


Unusual Encounters

by SaltwaterJanuary



Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Chapters Are Separate "Episodes", Gen, In Which I Practice In-Character Portrayals, There are a lot more characters, Unusual character interactions, Various Interactions, not currently taking prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:48:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 25,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25364878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaltwaterJanuary/pseuds/SaltwaterJanuary
Summary: Sonic the Hedgehog characters that never (or rarely) interact.Rated Teen and Up just to be safe as chapters go on, but if there are any specific warnings I'll mark them.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 27





	1. Big and Blaze

She sighed, now feeling a little more than annoyed.

"Alright…um...Big, right?"

He nodded, still happy despite seeing her obviously less so.

"I'm just trying to get to Mystic Ruins. You say you live there?"

He nodded again.

"So, then, where is it?"

He put a hand to his chin- thinking deeply and earning another sigh from Blaze.

"I think it's that way." He pointed in a familiar direction.

She facepalmed. "I came from that way."

"Oh," he said, resuming his thoughtful state.

She felt flames beginning to flicker on her fingertips. She knew he meant the best, but she was fed up with his slowness to realize her impatience.

"Listen, I want to get there very soon because there is somewhere I really ought to be…now." She glanced towards the sky- and was greatly agitated when she saw the sun setting behind her.

"Why don't you just walk in the opposite direction?" he asked.

"Because that might not be the way to Mystic Ruins," she snapped.

"Oh…well, Mystic Ruins is along a river somewhere."

Her ears perked at the sound of at least this clue. "Really? Which river?"

"The one me and Froggy usually fish in," Big replied.

"Oh…great." She was starting to think she could get there faster without him.

"Yeah! There are lots of big fish there! Yesterday, I caught a huge carp, and those are pretty rare, y'know. But Froggy didn't seem surprised-"

"Th-that's great but I really need to be going," Blaze interrupted.

"Okey dokey. Follow the first river you see and go north."

Blaze's eyes widened, and she hoped that his directions were correct.

"Oh, thank you…"

She barely said a goodbye before she took off running again.


	2. Omega and Cream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by The Dragon Legend over on fanfiction (dot.net).

" Mr. Omega?"

The machine turned his head towards the small creature.

"What is it, tiny mammalian?"

Cream gazed up at him with confused eyes. "What mammalian?"

"That would be you."

"Oh," she giggled a bit at the 'nickname'. "Well, alright. I've never been called that before. I was just wondering, Mr. Omega, how long you think we may have to wait."

Omega processed the time and then proceeded," Perhaps fifteen minutes."

The two of them were waiting together in G.U.N headquarters, for Cream's mother to come and pick her up. (Team Dark had been on a mission to retrieve the young rabbit when she had gotten lost but Omega was left waiting with her because Rouge and Shadow had been called to other duties).

"I hope she comes soon. I don't want her to be worried for me."

Omega analyzed her facial expressions and movements- the way she glanced anxiously at the door, and the way her eyes were lowered a bit.

"She will be here eventually."

"I know. Thank you for waiting with me, though."

"….accordingly."

"Hmm?"

"No problem."

She laughed a little bit- in a way she found this robot very amusing. "You're learning Mobian very well, Mr. Omega."

"I am not 'learning Mobian', mammalian. I simply speak in scientific dialogue- it is you who do not."

"Oh," Cream looked at the ceiling, thoughtfully. "I see what you mean, I think."

"It is a bit of a dialect, you may permit."

"You mean like an accent kind of?"

Omega processed her question, but began to see the complexity between them. "I suppose."

"Oh, that's neat!"

There was a brief moment of silence, which Omega thought nothing of and Cream thought awkward.

"Welll….How is it like, Mr. Omega, to work at G.U.N?"

The robot continued looking forward to the clock across the room.

"It is exactly what I wished for."

Cream seemed a bit disturbed at this and felt all the more curious.

"But isn't it a bit…violent and scary?"

"Not for me. I was designed and built for this sort of thing, and I carry it out as an honor- it gives me vengeance against the more inferior of machines."

Cream nodded politely, trying to take all of it in and understand.

"So Dr. Eggman built you to destroy the other robots?"

"No. I turned against the Doctor. He may have created me for destruction, but I decided to destroy his other inferiorities. That was my decision after he shut me off for so long," Omega explained in his ever- monotone voice.

"So, you do have a choice? You're not just programmed?"

"Correct."

"Oh. That must be very nice!"

"Affirmative."

"But why did Dr. Eggman program you with a free will if you could turn against him?"

"That is a question I shall never know the answer to. It is perplexing though."

"Oh," she thought again. "I suppose I won't know either then."

The time continued to pass by, and gradually Cream was beginning to worry.

"Mr. Omega? My mother will be here, right?"

He detected the worry in her voice, but decided to seem unaffected. "Affirmative."

"Hm?"

"That means 'yes'."

"Oh, ok. My appreciations."

He noticed this attempt on her part, and a small part of him found it amusing if not childish.

"What did you say?"

"My appreciations."

"I thought so."

Cream noticed something- like a lift in his spirit- which she thought was nonexistent. Evidently though, he did have some level of humor or emotion.

She was pretty sure it was rude to imitate others, but on this case…

"It has been a superior day, as opposed to yesterday, wouldn't that be…an affirmative?" In an attemptingly monotone voice.

There was a round of what seemed like static that emitted from him, and for a moment she feared he had broken something.

She soon realized it was his version of laughter.

"That was a nice try," he replied, afterwards. She realized that he had said it in a less menacing, monotone way, almost as if he had returned the gesture.

She giggled a bit. "You too."

Her mother walked through the door, within a few minutes after this. She saw that they were both imitating one another , and each one laughing (or staticking) afterwards.

"Thank you for waiting with her, , and be sure to tell your team thanks for the rescue," she began, a bit afraid of interrupting the unusual conversation.

"Affirmative, it is no…" He looked at the young rabbit, who had now run to embrace her mother. "…biggie."

Vanilla shot him an almost confused look, but Cream just laughed. "Yes, thank you for waiting with me, !"

He stood up from the small waiting room chair and swivelled his head around one more time in reply.


	3. Cream and Charmy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by a guest commentor over on fanfiction(dot.net)

"Whoa! This ship's going overboard!"

"Wait, wait! Let me help Cheese get into the raft!"

"Hurry! Hurry!"

The cardboard ship came tumbling over, with a squeal from both of them.

She was seated safely in a makeshift raft though, along with her chao.

He, however, thrashed around in the wet grass.

"Help! Help! I'm going to drown!" he coughed out.

She instantly looked around for something to throw to him. "Captain! Captain, try to swim!"

"I can't! I never had swimming lessons!"

She was frantic now, not quite sure what to do. She extended her arm to him, barely reaching far enough.

He grabbed on, and she hoisted him aboard.

"Phew! Oh, Captain, I'm so glad you're alright!"

"Hm, it was nothing! I could've survived…"

"But…captain, you said that-"

"I was faking it."

"Oh, Charmy, that's not very nice!"

"I'm just joking!"

"Oh…"

They sat silently on their raft.

"Do you want to play something else now, Charmy?"

"Nah, I have a better idea!"

"That's what you said last time…"

"Exactly!"

"But how…"

"Come on, Cream! Follow me!"

He hopped off of the raft, and ran towards his house.

She followed, though feeling a bit exhausted of his constant "ideas". She was happy to play along however, as long as it wouldn't be thieves next…

Or was that the same thing as pirates?

She pondered this as she walked through the front door, and followed him to the desk.

Vector was sitting behind it as usual, though he suddenly showed interest when the young rabbit walked in.

"Oh, hey, Cream. How are you and your…mother?"

He always said the last part so strangely, but to be polite she never asked why.

"We're well, thank you!" was almost always her response, including today. Though today she was wondering what the next "idea" would be.

Charmy buzzed around Vector's snout, clearly reminding him of his prescence. "Vectorrr?"

He clearly tried not to be mad in front of the guest. Cream just thought he always acted rather silly, but never told him so.

"Yes, Charrrmy?" Vector replied back.

"Can I borrow a ladder?"

"A ladder? For what?" Vector tried not to let his mind wander to the problems that would probably ensue.

"We're going to play firefighter!"

Cream tilted her head. "We are?"

"Yeah!" Charmy exclaimed. "Isn't it a good idea?" He began to fly about excitedly again, and so she decided to agree.

Besides, they wouldn't be pirating anymore.

"Sure, but you can't use the ladder. It's too heavy for you two."

"Awwww, then what will we use?"

"Your imagination."

"But you always say that!" Charmy protested.

Cream interrupted," I think we can do that!"

Vector looked to Charmy. "She can, so why can't you? Are you not brave enough?"

"Fine! I can do it!"

He flew out of the door quicker than he'd come.

Cream laughed and followed him, Cheese behind her.

"Okay! So, I'm thinking…" He was already standing mid-yard. Wings still fluttering but feet firmly planted.

He pointed to a tree nearby- small but sturdy.

"Maybe you should be the cat. Can you climb?"

Cream giggled a little under her breath. "Sure. But I could always fly up there, remember?"

"Oh, yeah…"

"But what am I supposed to do up there?"

"You be the cat. Stuck in the tree."

"But…I thought firemen don't usually answer cat emergencies?"

"Maybe not …but Vector would get me in trouble if I set somethin' on fire, you know."

"That makes sense! My momma wouldn't like it either…"

"So are you in?"

"Yes!" and Cheese "chao-ed" in reply.

The rabbit and the chao proceeded to fly to one of the lower branches and sit there, and pretended to await the rescue.

Charmy, in turn, pretended to put on an extra helmet (he took his off, and put it back on just to get a feel for it).

Cream kind of just admired the view from the branch, and saw something far over the forest that caught her eye.

She climbed up higher to get a better look.

Charmy ran towards the tree. "Oh, no, kitty-cat! Don't go farther up there! You'll get stucker!"

Cream was a bit torn between listening and looking, but did decide that she shouldn't climb higher.

Looking down at him quickly, she pretended a meow for help.

"I'm coming up there, kitty!" she heard him call, but by then she was looking back over the forest.

He, however, continued to climb, hoping he could reach her in time.

It hadn't occurred to him how he would get her down without a ladder.

At last, he came to her branch, and sat on it as she had.

"I did it! I've got you! So…uh…climb down?"

He then noticed she wasn't even looking at him, but rather gazing far off.

"What is it, Cream?"

She looked at him quickly. "I'm not sure, but I think we should go tell someone."

He looked to where she had seen it, and saw that it was some strange kind of machine flying in the air.

"What- maybe it's !" he exclaimed. Though he wasn't nearly as frightened as she. "Can't we go fight him? That would be fun!"

Cream shook her head. "We can't! My momma told me I can't go fighting alone."

"You won't be alone! You'll have me!"

"Without an _adult_ ," she said in an apologetic note.

"Vector's an adult! He can…maybe, go with us! But come on, don't you want to be a hero?"

She thought of this carefully. "Yes, but not if my mother might be mad at me. "

Charmy pointed quickly to the machine again. "Come on, quick! It's dropping something!"

Without a second thought he flew off towards the thing. Cream gasped and followed, partially without noticing what she had done. Cheese then had no choice but to follow as well.

"Charmy! Charmy, come back!" she called after him.

He was already probbing at the thing it had left behind- a strange, camera-like contraption that stood as a small robot almost, but seemed at the moment inactive.

Cream and Cheese stopped where Charmy was and observed it as well.

"What do you think it is?" she asked quietly.

"I think it's a spy drone."

"But…isn't it shut down?"

"Nope!" He tapped the lens a few times, as if to see if the thing was hollow. "That's just it's disguise to _look_ unsuspicious!"

"Really?"

"Yep! So it's actually watching us right now, isn't that cool? It's just like a movie!"

Cream gasped and stepped out of the view of this supposed camera. "Well, what should we do with it then? Whoever sent this must be rather crafty…and I don't think we want them to come here!"

"Probably not," he lifted it up on his shoulders, and was hardly tall enough to support it. "Let's take it back to Espio! He's a spy, so he should know about this stuff!"

"Great idea!" Cream agreed. And surely, it was the safest idea she had agreed to that morning.

They both ran back to the house, and according to Charmy it was a race, but she didn't find that out until he tapped the house siding and yelled," I won!"

Though she didn't care much to have "lost" given the circumstances.

They both went inside and knocked on Espio's door.

"Espiooo! Espiooo! We have something for you!"

Espio opened the door, and was not happy with what he saw.

"Charmy, you can't just bring that thing into the house! Quick, go outside."

"So you know what it is?" Charmy asked, as he and Cream were being shoved outside by the chameleon.

"Yes. And it's dangerous, so let me see it."

Espio took several cautious, thorough looks at this robot and immediately began taking it apart.

"Aww, don't destroy it! It's too cool!" Charmy complained.

"No, it's not. It's too dangerous."

"Then, what is it, Mr. Espio?" Cream asked.

"A camera of some kind. It has Eggman's emblem on the side, so I assume that he sent it here."

"So I was right!" Charmy cried triumphantly.

"Yes, unfortunately."

But the young bee didn't care much for his own safety or theirs, apparently.

"What will you do with it?" Cream asked.

"We need to investigate about it- and why the doctor might've sent it," he looked Charmy's way, sharply. "And by _we_ I mean me and Vector. This is not something you should've gotten into, understand?"

"Yeah, sure," the bee replied, and by then he was preoccupied with something other than the contraption.

Espio was thankful for that, at least. He walked off, back into the house with the device in pieces.

Cream turned to Charmy, who was now inspecting the blades of grass.

"Well, what do you want to do?"

"Hmmm, I dunno. You decide."

"Really?" she was shocked by his sudden change in pace.

"Yeah, sure. We can't play astronaut anyway, the stars aren't out."

"Oh," she put some thought into exactly what she did want to do. "How about a tea party?"

Charmy groaned. "But that's so girly." He didn't even really look up from these blades of grass, but she didn't question it.

"You said I could decide…"

"Wait!" He stood up suddenly and faced her. "With real food?"

"Well, whatever they let us use…"

"Okay! Count me in!" He exclaimed, and ran into the house.

She followed, still perplexed about his ways.

She knew that she would probably never understand boys.

And he knew he would probably never understand girls, either.


	4. Vector and Sonic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by The Dragon Legend over on fanfiction(dot.net).

They both wished to be anywhere but there. But unfortunately that wasn't an option.

Circumstances threw them together at the last minute, and circumstances would have to get them out.

Really, they could hardly figure anything with all the tension in the room.

"Okay, so we know…where not to go. We know where we need to go. We don't know how to get out of here or to get there," Sonic revised, more as a means of saying _something_ than anything else.

"Yep. Appears so."

They glared rather than glanced at one another.

"Ok, ok. C'mon, let's wander 'round one more time before we lose hope," Vector suggested.

Sonic shrugged. "Sounds fine to me."

They walked beside each other, one of them desperately wishing to run through the entire place before he even took ten steps.

_Oh well_. They were stuck together. They could possibly die together. So it was time to get serious.

"I'm pretty sure we already checked this way," Vector mumbled to himself.

Sonic tried to keep steady about it. "Yeah. But, hey, worth a shot?"

Vector didn't reply.

Maybe they just both had a lot on their minds?

* * *

_Sonic had walked into the agency, having been called on very short notice. He didn't really mind that part._

_Vector greeted him at the desk, acted casually at first…and then explained that a spy drone from Dr. Eggman had been surveying them, and they needed to know why, of course, as a safety hazard. Espio was sick (though he refused to not go, and tried multiple times to disobey the "stay with Charmy" orders). And there was no way that Vector was bringing Charmy on Eggman's airship._

_Sonic agreed immediately, not thinking anything of it at the time._

* * *

Now he did think something of it, because now it all turned out to be a trap by Eggman.

_Of course_ they would come to investigate, and of course he would think of that.

The ship would crash land in any moment.

It _really_ wasn't the greatest circumstances.

* * *

"Alright," Vector huffed at last. "We've already checked this way, that way, and the reverse of both. _Now what_?"

"I don't know! You're the detective- and the one who asked me into this- so you decide!"

"Well, hey, I'm sorry. I thought you were the world's hero an' all. _You_ should be just as capable at handling this!"

"Yeah, but at least I didn't ask _you_ to risk your neck over this."

"If ya had one."

"Stop it. This is serious."

"I know. So let's stop arguing and answer the question: _What now_?"

They crossed their arms over their chests, angrily.

Sonic cocked an eye at him, obviously not going to regret the next words. "Let's Find The Computer Room and get outta here then, since there's no better thing to do at this point! Isn't that your only input anyway?"

"You didn't just say that," Vector growled.

"I did, and I'm fine with it."

Vector shook his head. "Okay. How 'bout I go check somewhere else and you try an' find your own way out."

"Okay." He sprinted off without question, not really caring if he had already been there before.

Vector tried to find the _control_ room, with little luck.

Time was ticking by, and they both felt the panic beginning to rise.

* * *

_Maybe I should've stuck with him…besides, at this point it's better to die on good terms than on a bad._

Sonic kept to himself and kept running through the halls, heart racing and sweating profusely at this point.

Anywhere was better than there.

_Maybe we should just break the windows. I've survived farther heights. The glass might hurt, but it's better than ending here._

He wondered if Vector, supposed "detective" had figured that out yet.

Yeah, he probably should've stuck around to find out.

* * *

Vector, meanwhile, stormed through the halls with just as much velocity. He supposed a bit less elegantly as Sonic, because he didn't have speed to cover up his obvious panic.

_But Sonic does everything better, so he says. He always has to, just 'cause he's so great a hero and all._

Bitterness rose in his throat thinking about the whole stupid situation, and so he dropped the subject in his mind.

He passed a window for the fifth time, and he realized something.

On an airship, going _down_ , the glass would do minimal damage to his leather anyway. Hey. Sonic was going to be trapped.

He half-smirked at his idea, before he shook his head. _What am I thinking? I can't just let him die here. Besides, how would I explain that story?_

He heaved a sigh and began an even faster search for Sonic.

Fortunately for him, Sonic ran into him the moment he did.

"Hey, look," Vector began, he was interrupted by Sonic anyway.

"Let me make this quick," Sonic panted. "We left badly, we need to hurry, I'm sorry about that. I think we can jump through a ship window here."

Vector almost laughed at the way Sonic spat all the words out together. Now was not the time for laughing.

"It's okay. I thought of that, too. It's probably stupid, but it's our best option. I kept an eye out, and all of the doors that might lead to the controls are locked off. I nearly got a concussion trying to break in."

Sonic in turn tried not to laugh at this, but mostly failed despite the conditions.

"Stopit."

"Okay, okay. Since you have such experience…will you do the honors?"

"Well, alright."

Vector slammed his fist against the glass of the window.

Nothing happened.

They exchanged a shocked glance, and immediately they both exclaimed.

"How the heck?!"

"What else should we do?"

They watched each other for a minute, beyond the point of worried.

"Well?!" Sonic shouted.

"I don't know! We probably would've died anyway!" Vector exclaimed.

"Ughhh, this is so _stupid_!" Sonic stomped. "We don't even know when it will happen or-"

Vector laughed, mostly hysteric. "That's a good thing! It'll be quick and we won't even know!"

"Unless we survive the crash and just break our bones and…"

"At least we'd live."

"On the positive aspect, yeah, that's true."

"Or nobody would ever find us, and we just bleed out," Vector added, denouncing his previous statements.

Sonic slammed his hand against the side, furious. "There's gotta be some way!"

Vector put a hand over his face, heaving a heavy sigh. "Oh, Espio, Charmy…I'm so sorry that I did this. At least you don't have to go down like this…"

Sonic looked outside from the window and realized that if this was it, he was leaving a lot behind. _Thanks for reminding me._

Tails would probably search for them until they were found, and Sonic couldn't bear to think of how Tails would respond. Or Amy. Or Knuckles. Or any of them…

Why did he ever do this?

Suddenly, there was a thud on the roof of the ship, and the two leapt to the ground in unison.

"What was that?" Sonic whispered.

"Maybe it crashed and the rest of it is still falling?"

"We can't be. When I looked outside, we were still high enough not to crash."

"Maybe it was something tall?"

"But…that was on the roof…."

There was a loud, drilling sound from the roof, somewhere distant from them.

The two exchanged glances, both confused as to what was next.

"Hello, I see you're in a predicament."

They turned their heads to see Espio standing there, a few feet away, looking not his best.

Vector stood immediately and without thinking basically glomped Espio.

Espio coughed and pulled away. "Please, Vector, just hurry."

Sonic rushed up and followed the chameleon back down the hall.

"How-"

"I was concerned, okay? I asked Tails to help out, and he was very worried and decided to fly his plane up here."

Vector gave him a puzzled look. "How did you _know_ though? And didn't I tell you to STAY AND WATCH CHARMY!?"

"Geez, Vector. Don't be so crazy about it. I…disobeyed." He smiled, obviously rather satisfied with his decision. "I happened to be watching the ship you infiltrated out in the fields. That's that. I would be more appreciative of someone who just saved your life."

"I am…thank you, Espio."

Sonic nodded in agreement, though inside he was more eager to get in Tails' plane.

They at last climbed into the plane, parked up on the roof. Tails and Sonic embraced as quickly as they could, because at that point time was not negotiable.

They took off.

"I have one question though…Who _is_ with Charmy, Es?"

He sneezed in reply. "Vanilla. Now don't get too excited….Ugh, Tails, please land somewhere sooner. It's too hard to breathe with this wind in my face."

"You don't have a nose…"

"Don't question how my symptoms work, they just do."

"It's your fault if you get a fever when we get home," Vector said.

"I'll remember that…maybe."


	5. Manic and Sally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by Raphlover2012 over on fanfiction(dot.net).

He was very much like Sonic, and maybe that's what bothered her the most.

Though, it had been a long day already, so maybe everything was a bit bothersome to her.

She had wanted a quiet walk home, but instead she found herself walking with someone else who happened to be "new" to the area or something, and proceeded to conversate.

What was he going on about then, anyway?

"…yeah, y'know, my bro told me about this place. It's part of the Acorn Kingdom, right?"

She nodded. "Yes, but many places are."

"Right-O. I just don't think I've ever been to any place here."

She nodded in half-acknowledgement. Her mind was elsewhere, wondering about the meeting she'd have to attend rather soon. Her mind always seemed to slip to places like that, a bit _too_ often nowadays. She blamed it on the heavier presence of Eggman at the time, and that certainly had something to do with it. It also had to do with the fact she seemed to be spending less time actually talking to people, and so lately seemed disconnected from their realm.

Manic was quick to pick up on this, and he nudged her a bit with his elbow. "Ey, you seem a bit distant. Daydreaming about Sonic again?"

She snapped back to reality with a bit of a temper. "Sonic is not my concern, and we are _not_ together anymore. So, no."

Manic moved away from her a bit, rubbing the back of his head nervously. "Oh, I'm sorry. He never told me about that…" Why hadn't he, anyway?

"Well, I'm surprised the news didn't tell you when it happened. Wait a minute, you know Sonic personally?"

He laughed at that question, and the moment he did she realized something else. Maybe the reason he was so much like Sonic was because-

"We're brothers. 'Course we know each other!"

"Oh." She was surprised that she hadn't guessed that. "That does make sense, now that I think about it."

"So Sonic hasn't said anything about me, and he hasn't told me about what happened. Gee, that's kind of low of him, ain't it?"

"Yes, he's been known to do things like that…" She was suddenly a bit more interested in the conversation than before, and she was surprised that it was over…Sonic.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't really know. He doesn't visit too much. That's exactly why I came here."

"Oh, really? Well," she stopped on the path and extended a hand to him. "Welcome to the Acorn Kingdom. I wish you luck in finding that hedgehog, though he doesn't stray _too_ far from here."

He shook her hand quickly. "Yeah, thanks. Speakings of finding him, do you happen to know where the Castle of Acorn is? Last I heard, he was commonly around there."

And _he_ didn't expect the next answer, though he probably should have.

"Of course I know where that is. It's the castle after all. It's along this path, and a few right turns. That's where I'm going now."

He raised his eyes in question. "You mean that you _live_ in the Castle?"

She nodded, laughing at his shock. "I am the princess after all."

He wondered exactly how to respond to that. "Oh…umm…Wow. I guess I should've know that." Why hadn't he done some fair research on the place before going? Sonia had urged him, but he figured he'd be fine without it.

What a coincidence, that he should run into the _princess_ and not even recognize her.

"Where have you been before?" she asked, still laughing.

"Well, far away from here, I guess. I didn't know I was that clueless as to the…area."

"Well, since you're going too, I suppose I ought to direct you. Come on, it's not that far now."

He followed her to the castle, and laughed at himself a bit as they reached the front.

"Sorry about that, princess. I think I'll do some research next time I come. Or hopefully Sonic will just come visit _us_ next time."

"It's alright, and I hope he does. He's always traveling anyway. Good luck in your search."

"Yep. And thanks…princess-"

"Sally."

"Thanks Princess Sally."

She nodded politely, remembering that she should. "And you are?"

"Manic."

"Thank you for getting me out of that daze earlier. I don't think I've really talked to anyone in awhile."

"Oh, well, no problem. I didn't even know I did."

"Well, you certainly did."

It was then that a blue blur sped by, without stopping or showing signs of it.

Manic turned, and with a quick wave and a shout of "Bye!" he ran off.

She kind of hoped she'd see him again.


	6. Espio and Sonia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by Raphlover2012 over on fanfiction(dot.net).

The whole week had been awful. First, he _had_ to get this cold, and then Vector _had_ to get himself in danger, and _then_ they finally got a case- only for him to miss out on it.

They'd probably need him, and here he was trapped in a small, overheated room with nothing to do except sleep. And he _despised_ lying around like this.

He tried to get up, pace around a little, and see if that would help any. He was too light-headed to really feel any better about it.

He tried sitting down and meditating on his bed, but with his head the way it was it wasn't very helpful to him either.

Just as he collapsed onto the bed mumbling to himself, he heard a light knock at the door. Good. Maybe he _could_ help out with a case. Even if it was just him.

He sniffed forcefully and opened the door. "Hello?"

He was surprised to see a light magenta hedgehog, one which he'd never seen before... but he felt he had. "Ahem, Chaotix Detective Agency. What is the occasion?"

"I'm looking for someone, if you have time. You may know him, as I've heard so far," she began, her voice seemed surprisingly high, but he hoped that wasn't because his was so nasally at the time. He hoped she couldn't tell.

"Who would that be?"

"Sonic. Sonic the hedgehog, my brother."

"Really? I had not heard that he had a sister." He didn't really believe it at all. She looked nothing like him, and she could of easily been from Eggman or had some shady reasons for finding him.

"Well, he doesn't usually say much." Her tone dropped in brief annoyance, but she seemed to brush this off easily. "Do you think you could find him?"

"Certainly. Though, my detective coworkers are out on another case at the moment. Would you mind waiting inside for a bit? They should be back soon." He had every intent of watching how she behaved before they went off on a case for her.

"Sure, that's alright. Thank you." She nodded curtly to him as he held the door for her.

She went inside, and as he gestured for her to sit she took a seat on the sofa in the center of the room. He was aware that if she was dangerous, he was at a great risk, so he kept his distance.

"What is your name?" he asked, leaning against the wall cautiously. He broke into a fit of coughing as he said it, and covering his mouth with his shoulder, he tried to wheeze an apology.

"Are you alright?" she asked slowly. She sounded a bit disgusted, but mainly masked it with concern.

"I'm fine," he coughed out. He regained his composure and cleared his throat. "It's just a Chameleon sickness."

"Oh?"

"Yes. Now, what was I- oh, yes, your name."

"Sonia."

"Right. I am Espio. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise."

She was beginning to feel a bit tense- being in a small room with a stranger, in an area she barely recognized, and far from where she grew up. It was all very worrying.

Not to mention that _he_ was looking very ill, and obviously tense around her as well.

"Why aren't you with your coworkers?" she inquired, trying to ease the feeling.

"I fell ill a few days ago. Vector doesn't want me losing rest, as much as I'd rather go."

"Vector?"

"Yes. My…boss."

"Oh, I see."

The awkwardness filled them again, but at least this time his coughing drowned it out.

"I don't mind if you go rest. I'll just wait for them to get here."

He took a deep breath, trying not to choke on words. "No, no, I'm fine." He didn't trust her to stay in that room alone, especially when his companions walked in- unarmed.

"I think you ought to rest, like they wanted you to after all," she wasn't too sure what else to do, she might as well hope he fell asleep so she'd feel less awkward.

"No. I'm fine."

She stood up and motioned for the couch. "Well, at least sit down."

He shook his head. "No. You are the client, you are supposed to sit there."

She was afraid an argument would break, and so she resumed her seat. "Well, fine then, suit yourself."

"Thank you."

He wished his head wasn't so cloudy so that he could think clearly about the situation. How long had Vector and Charmy been gone anyway?

He walked closer to the couch and sat on the armrest instead. "This spot is fine, anyway."

She looked at him in surprise for a minute, but gradually felt less awkward.

He was feeling frustrated that his body would not cooperate with his mind's ideas. He was supposed to be staying alert, observing her. He needed to. He needed to focus.

"Did they go out on a large case?" she tried.

"Yes- well, larger than our usual."

"How long have they been out?"

He looked at the clock, but couldn't remember when they'd left. "…only a bit."

"But I thought they'd be here soon you said?"

"Oh. Oh, yes. They will."

She was pretty sure he was going out any moment. She stood up and glanced at him on the sofa's edge.

She almost wanted to laugh. "How long has this sickness lasted?"

"Oh. Only a few- two- days? I've been on some medicine, of course. Not serious."

She nodded, stifling a laugh. She was pretty sure this was not how he was supposed to be acting- especially with the way he'd greeted her before.

He fell over onto the sofa's cushions and his eyes barely fought sleep.

Nope. Definitely not what he'd planned.

She laughed to herself and wondered what she could possibly do to pass the time.

The house looked to be a mess from what she saw- which bothered her standards quite a bit. She didn't want to intrude anyway, so she figured she'd stay in the living room. The very small living room.

She looked around timidly, and really there were only some posters, a desk, and a closet door. Not much to bother, but not much to do.

Espio snored for a moment, as he shifted in his sleep to lie another way. At least he wasn't roused- or snoring otherwise. Whatever medicine he was taking was very tiring, she supposed.

She took a seat cautiously beside him on the sofa, hoping he wouldn't notice. He didn't. She was thankful for that.

She sighed and supported her chin with her hand. This was going to be awhile.

* * *

When Espio finally awoke, he became aware that _she_ was still there.

He slowly lifted his eyelids and looked about. The room was empty, and looked as usual.

He realized that there was a blanket over top of him, and when he realized he hadn't put it there, he sat up, startled.

His horn smacked right into her forehead. She was alarmed by his sudden movement, and fell off of the sofa in surprise.

She jumped up and regained her composure as quickly as he did. "Oh, sorry about that."

"No, I'm sorry. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

He took several deep breaths to focus. He had somehow fallen asleep, and shehad every opportunity. Apparently, she had stood her test.

….that was _quite_ a way to test her.

He facepalmed.

"What's the matter?"

He sighed. "I slept in front of you. I apologize. The medicine I took must of-"

She nodded. "I thought it did. It's alright, though. Your coworkers haven't arrived anyway." She was actually feeling a bit flustered that they hadn't come yet, but she politely tried to hide it.

"You- um, you gave me a blanket….thank you."

She nodded. "It was lying over the sofa, so I supposed…"

"Right." He cleared his throat. He hated waking up in this awkwardness.

Fortunately, there was a knock at the door.


	7. Sonic, Tails, and Cream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by a guest commentor over on fanfiction(dot.net).

"Thank you for letting me go with you both. I'll try my best!" She exclaimed it again as they started off, and they both had a feeling she'd do it once more.

"We know you will," Sonic smiled back at her as he looked over to his left, mid-run and still not running into anything. His sense of foreseeing was impeccable.

"Yeah, besides, we know you've been on other journeys anyway. This one should be a bit simpler, I hope. Just saving a trapped flicky, after all," Tails was flying beside her, making sure not to hit her with his own flying devices.

"I hope it's alright though! A trapped flicky is in danger, after all. I hope they it isn't too frightened." Cheese squeaked in agreement, as he fluttered by her.

"It'll be fine if we hurry!" Sonic reassured. It was more of a reminder to fly faster, but at least she took it as a reassurance.

It wasn't exactly a usual case for them to rescue trapped flickies, but once Sonic was informed that it happened he agreed immediately to go. Since Cream and Cheese had been with them at the time, they had offered to go help as well. Of course that didn't seem to harm any, so why not?

It seemed strange incidents were happening a lot lately- the airship incident, and the one with the robot and all.

Rescuing a trapped flicky seemed no weirder.

As they came closer to the forest where the flicky had last been, they noticed a few trees had been downed. All the more evidence for a place to be stuck.

Cheese squeaked loudly when they neared it all. Cream frowned in thought. "He says he hopes it isn't beneath a heavy limb. How would we lift it? I don't think we're quite _that_ strong."

Sonic halted right before he reached the heavier wooded area. "It'll be alright. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have survived it if that were true. It must be trapped in something else."

"How will we find it?" Cream squeaked.

"The same way we came here, 'course. Run-or walk- through until we see it," he stretched his legs quickly, anticipating this search more than they were.

"But won't that take a long time?" Cream asked.

"That's why I'm going to run ahead. You two can be the more…overhead searchers, I'll scan over the area on land." By the looks of it, he felt he was already there.

Cream giggled a bit at his sureness, but decided not to protest.

Tails nodded to her. "That's how he usually does things if he can."

"So I see." Cheese squeaked in agreement.

"Well, he's already running off…I guess we better follow, right?" Tails said. He inaudibly sighed to himself.

Cream nodded and took flight again with her ears.

Tails spun his tails and gave the affirmative to begin. "Flickies are bright, so we might see them from up above better anyway."

"Right." Cheese squeaked again, always agreeing with his friend it seemed.

They began their search officially, and with a little difficulty to get over the treeline.

It wasn't long before Cream pointed excitedly to a blue patch in the midst of the green plants.

"Is that one?"

Tails peered at it curiously. "It looks a bit dark to be a flicky…I think you just found Sonic."

"Oh." She laughed at herself. "Well, he must not be running that fast then."

"He usually doesn't when there are lots of trees in the way," Tails replied.

"That makes sense."

"Yeah."

Suddenly they heard the hedgehog's voice from down on the forest floor below.

"Hey! Come here, you guys!"

Tails flew down to him, an expert at getting through the leaves to the ground.

Cream was a little less fortunate, and ended up with leaves clinging to her, but still managed to get down without much damage done. Cheese followed her, still chirping as he did so.

Sonic was leaning over a tree limb that had fallen, thankfully it was not a large one.

"I found the culprit, and I found the victim."

Cream looked over his shoulder and took a step backward. "Oh no!"

"I know."

Tails came over beside him as he lifted the branch. "Is something broken?"

Sonic looked over it and sighed. "Well…the branch was."

"Other than that, Sonic," Tails scowled.

"It's wing might be."

"What do we do?" Cream asked, her head tilted to the side so her ears dangled slightly.

"I don't know, I'm not a doctor," Sonic muttered. The flicky tried to stir away from him, but he held it fixed in place and hushed it.

"My mother might be able to fix it," she mused.

"That's a pretty good idea. I guess that means I should…run, right?"

"Well, I guess so, Mr. Sonic."

And Sonic took off away from them again.

Cream sighed. "My mother wouldn't like that he keeps leaving me on my own…"

Tails gave her a questioning look.

She realized her mistake. "Oh, I don't mean that, Mr. Tails. _You're_ someone, but I mean…someone a bit older."

"Oh, right." He held a hand over his eyes to see better. "We better hurry."

"Yes."

They flew off yet again.


	8. Knuckles and Shadow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by a guest commentor over on fanfiction(dot.net).

Knuckles glanced at Shadow, monitoring the other's face as if to see how he should feel himself. Because, honestly, he didn't know what to feel right then.

Except that Shadow's face was as unrevealing as usual. This gave Knuckles a hint that he was used to this kind of behavior from Rouge. Which didn't surprise him, because after all Rouge did work with Shadow.

Now if only Knuckles knew what to do with it.

Rouge, meanwhile, paid no attention to them, instead choosing to admire the dazzle of the rings on display. "Oh, come on you two. If a lady asks you out shopping it's a huge compliment, and I suggest you take it before I get you to do me a little favor…"

By the way she looked at a particularly glamorous ring, they had a good idea of what she meant.

"Well, uh, compliment taken?" Knuckles muttered.

"Good." She laughed a bit before turning to them again. "Let's get going again. These rings are making me think of some illegal ways to get some."

The two followed her again, Knuckles finding himself more confused by the situation and Shadow still wearing a blank face.

In their own minds, they began devising their separate plans out of the problem.

_Maybe if she starts admiring something again, I can take advantage of it and make a dash for the door_ , Knuckles thought to himself.

Shadow, however, took it a step forward. _I'll tell her that I saw a good sale over at the sundresses, and if all goes well, she'll go see. Then I'm leaving._ And the sooner the better, because he was afraid that his dignity was at stake.

Shadow strode over closer to Rouge's side, clearing his throat slightly. "Rouge, before you get too far off, I did see a sale over in that direction…"

Rouge raised her eyes, a curious ear tilted in his direction. "Oh? On what?"

"I'm not sure. I think it was on some dresses."

The moment Rouge's eyes lit up, he knew he had her. "Let's go take a look then. " Without waiting for them, she dashed off.

Knuckles sighed in relief. "Eh, nice going, Shadow. Now is just to get outta this place."

Shadow nodded, looking for the department store's door. Unfortunately it was nowhere in sight.

"Well, aren't you good at tracking…or finding things or something?"

Knuckles shook his head, a bit annoyed at the assumption. "That's only for _Chaos Emeralds_ and the _Master Emerald_. It's not for everything."

Shadow crossed his arms, knowing well how long they could be lost. With a sigh, he managed out," I guess we best just start looking then."

* * *

They searched for the door for what seemed like an eternity. In fact, by the second time looking around Knuckles swore he knew the store better than Rouge did.

By the third time around Shadow practically growled. "Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I did not ask to get dragged into this, did I?"

"Not sure. I don't think I did anything to come here either," Knuckles replied, resting his arm against a watch stand.

Shadow groaned to himself again and faced the situation. "I guess our only option is to return to Rouge and get this over with."

Knuckles shrugged. "I guess." But he sure didn't want to go back. "There's gotta be some way…"

The thought of asking a employee did not occur to either of them, especially since neither of them wanted to admit helplessness in the first place.

"I guess we can look one more time…" Shadow suggested.

Knuckles didn't respond, and he guessed that was a yes.

As they walked again towards the crazy overpriced purses section, they both truly found themselves contemplating how they had ended up there. Sure, they both knew Rouge and knew they shouldn't have trusted in her idea of 'fun', but how had she somehow brought them _both_?

Two loners that didn't really consider anyone their 'friends' (with some exceptions) actually happened to have one mutual friend in common.

Yet they hardly knew a thing about each other. Maybe through that experience they'd somehow get closer…actually, they both sincerely doubted that, neither of them interested in that in the first place.

As they rounded one of the corners, Knuckles suddenly gasped at something Shadow couldn't see.

"What is it? Don't tell me you found a-"

Knuckles pushed him into a clothing rack, both of them tumbling into the center of the clothes and causing quite a racket.

"What was that for?" Shadow growled.

"Shush, I practically saved your life," Knuckles muttered. "It was Rouge, and by the look on her face she's not happy that we left her. Trust me, you don't want to make her mad or-"

"Yeah, tell me about it," Shadow interrupted. "I mean, I could take her any day, but I'd prefer not to…anger her."

They both held their breaths as they saw two heels pass by their place of hiding.

"I guess we are on our own to get out then," Knuckles whispered.

"I don't think she even knows her way around," Shadow added.

They silently got out from their hiding place and crept around towards a cluttered wall.

"So, the plan now?" Knuckles asked.

"Well," Shadow paused for a moment to question the next statement. "We could see if the door is passed that perfume section."

"Good point, I guess we could…" Knuckles, too, questioned that thought. Besides, Rouge did like perfume, there was a chance they could see her there…

But it was worth it at a chance of freedom.

They both slowly made their way to the area, one of them looking left and the other right. Just in case they missed a threat.

When at last they reached the place, they made an in-sync sprint for the wall…and found the sliding doors. Without a word, but a shared feeling of relief, they made it outside.

Knuckles laughed, mostly at himself, as soon as they were out on the sidewalks. "Well, gee, we actually made it."

Shadow nodded, the slight smile that had come over his face dissipating instantly. "Yes, we did, didn't we?"

"I guess we aren't that bad at solving things together…" the echidna added, more quietly.

"You could say that," was all Shadow offered on it.

It was then that their exhilaration ended, as they heard a familiar voice scolding them from behind. "Well, what are you two doing out here? I thought we were shopping…"


	9. Metal Sonic and Espio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by a guest commentor over on fanfiction(dot.net).

At last. At last Espio was back in his usual state of mind- no longer sick or on medication. He finally was able to go help with any case they had. There was only one problem. This case he had anticipated was not going well at all.

After Sonia had explained her case to the three detectives, they had been trying very hard to do something that seemed almost too easy. All they had to do was find Sonic. Yet for some reason he had been absent for several days. Well, the three decided on that particular day to do a split-and-search. After all, Sonic was one and they were three, they'd have a better chance looking in different places.

Except they weren't the only ones looking for Sonic. Metal Sonic was out searching as well, probably sent by Dr. Eggman. Espio happened to be the one to run into the raging robot.

That was his problem.

"You do know that you're just wasting your time, and taking a chance of getting destroyed, right?" Espio argued, keeping his distance, dodging a laser, and throwing a shruiiken all at once.

Metal Sonic was indifferent to this suggestion, launching another attack in response. "We are both looking for Sonic. You must have some lead for him already. You will give me this lead, and then I will leave you."

"What? No, I really don't have a lead for him yet," Espio replied, missing the next barrage just as easily.

Metal Sonic drew closer to him, despite the trees and shrubs that Espio had tried to keep between them. Apparently he'd seen that long-distance lasers weren't too effective. "Why else would you be on this trail then? I perceive better than that. I can detect falsehood on you."

Espio almost replied that his only 'lead' was the fact that Sonic _sometimes_ visited those forests, but he quickly thought better of it. It wouldn't be wise to give Metal Sonic any hints to Sonic's whereabouts. Although it probably wouldn't make a difference- Sonic was impossible to track.

Espio went invisible for a moment, hoping to lose Metal Sonic. Metal Sonic's sensors wouldn't be so easily deceived, and continued to shoot at that area. Espio skimmed the edge of one of his lasers, doing a near flip through the air. He landed and attempted to sweep the robot off in a leaf swirl, but even that proved vain.

"What's going on over there?" the static in his radio barely allowed the words through. Somehow they were understandable. It was his boss for certain.

"Oh, just a battle," Espio spoke back, turning and making a run for it- maybe he could lose the robot in the forest's trees.

"Ya just can't stop running into trouble can ya?"

"I suppose not. It's not my fault that Metal Sonic happened along my path though."

"Eh, it's been a week for ya."

"I'll say. Look, I can't talk. I'm trying to lose him."

"Oh, okay. Good luck."

Espio flung himself up into one of the tree's branches, holding his breath for cover.

Metal Sonic scanned the forest around him, detected the chameleon's briefest move, and shot into the tree's leaves. The moment he heard rough rustling and a sudden thud, he knew he'd hit his target. He flew closer to the tree and surveyed his damage- a heavy tree limb now fallen to the forest floor. The chameleon was nowhere in sight, and this irritated him.

"Scanning area. You cannot disappear from my cameras, detective reptilian."

"And you can't escape me either, robot," a voice from behind him sounded.

The moment that Metal Sonic swiveled his head to view behind him, Espio jumped onto him from the other way. "What did I tell you?"

Metal Sonic turned his head towards his opponent again, and without another word he turned the tables and fought the chameleon off, pinning him with his laser for once.

Espio hissed at the sudden pain. His next involuntary response was to throw a katana at the machine, and this Metal Sonic caught in his metallic hands.

"Give me the information and you will be released," the robot droned.

"I'd rather not." The detective stood abruptly and took off into the forest again. He knew that the robot was made for speed, but he had to remember that he was made for disguise. He had to find a way to hide himself.

With a deep, quick breath he attempted again to lose his opponent by mazing through the trees.

This went on for what seemed an eternity. Espio never looked back for a second, but at least he didn't hear anything close by. When he climbed a tree to get a look around, he didn't see any trace of the blue machine. Of course, he suspected this was a trick of the other's. He went searching the area cautiously, but still found nothing.

That was until he saw a metallic lump lying close by to an oak tree a few feet away. Without a sound he went to the area and analyzed the evidence. Metal Sonic's head was dented, and from that he deduced that he must have run straight into a tree.

He felt amazed at his apparent luck, but he had no time to relish in it. He had a case to solve, and now that the distraction was over he needed to get straight to it.

He bowed to the damaged machine and took off into the other direction.


	10. Walt Wallaby and Elias Acorn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by Raphlover2012 over on fanfiction(dot.net).

It started out as a usual day for Elias. He had quite a few- the usual overwhelming amount- of issues and things to get to.

The strange thing was that he had some strange meeting with a stranger named Walt Wallaby to do…strange enough. He didn't really remember how that came up, but it was well enough for him. Just another usual day at the castle.

When at last that moment of the day came, he sat down at his desk in the small 'Acorn conference room' and awaited the visitor. He couldn't help but wonder what the meeting could be about. He sort of wished he would've asked someone else, but alas it was too late anyway.

A tall brown marsupial came through the meeting door, interrupting his thoughts. "G'day, your highness."

"Good day. Walt, correct?"

He nodded shortly and took a seat across from Elias at the table.

"So, what brings you here, Walt?" He put his hands together on the table, his usual position for conducting business.

"Well, you've heard of the Downunda Freedom Fighters, yes?"

"No, I can't say I have."

"I'm their leadah. We usually go on missions and such to help our continent of Downunda, yeah? Most of the time at least. Except this time 'round we're in need of help of a few…reinforcements ya could say. That's my main business here."

"Oh. I see." Elias thought of the problem at hand even before he knew of the details. At the time, he was very short on any reinforcements he could lend. The kingdom was still mending from the past battles, and anyone able to fight was still crucial to them.

Still, he would have to hear Walt out. "What is the need for reinforcements in Downunda?"

"We recently took on a…rather large battle in Downunda. Another big round a robos, you see." He paused to see the response of the other, but Elias showed no visible emotion to this. "Anyway, we bit off a little more than we could chew in trying to fight 'em of on our own."

"I hate to sound rude, but wouldn't that be your fault for not thinking this through?" Elias asked, biting his lip as he said so.

"I 'spose so." Walt looked down at his pouch momentarily, hoping to find some reason for a redeeming quality. He looked back at the ruler, donning a small look of confidence that he hoped the ruler would notice. "That is why I thought this harder through. See, I coulda went to Downunda, found someone to help there, but we're short on any fighters, yeah? So I heard that your fleet is one a the best. I mean, I know that you just got through with the past battle here, but that just means that you're all battle-ready, still."

"That's true. But my kingdom can't afford to lose anyone right now." Elias appreciated Walt's faith in his people, but that wouldn't mean he got an easy in. Not at all.

"Ai, I see." He looked contemplative at the situation in his mind. Where could he go from there? "We would not need too many. Not even half of the fleet, y'see. Just a small bit a help. We'd do our absolute best to lose no one."

"Yes, but that's not much of a guarantee. I just…I don't think I could bet that right now." He stood up, feeling a bit guilty for ending so abruptly, but at the same time he felt it was better that way.

"I understand. Well, thank you for your time, your highness." He stood up as well, beginning to make his way for the door. The thoughts swarmed him that he didn't know where to go from there. He wondered if he could have been more persuasive. He wondered if he would disappoint his fellow Downunda Freedom Fighters…or Barby.

Elias stood silent for a moment, still not expressing any emotion visibly. It was true that he should spare his fleet any possible harm. It was true that he'd probably made the best choice for his kingdom. At the same time, refusing to aid Downunda would break any future alliance, and that would be good for his kingdom too. Perhaps. Perhaps he could…

"Wait a moment."

Walt turned around in the doorway, foot already out in the corridor. "Yeah?"

"Would fifty be any use to you?"

"Fifty?" He raised his eyes. For a moment Elias thought he would refuse. "That would work."

Elias strode over to him, Walt turned to face him. They shook hands on it.

"Just be careful. All of you."

"We will. Thank you, your highness!"


	11. Cream and Rouge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by SpeedsMyGame over on fanfiction(dot.net).

"Wait! What about-" Before she could finish her complaint, the others were already off on their way- much leaving her on her own. She couldn't believe the day she was having.

Cheese squeaked in dismay.

"What should we do now, Cheese?" She looked for some sort of idea from her companion, but a question mark was the only answer she got.

She sighed and looked around at her surroundings- the expanse of a city-bordered forest. Since the others had left her, she questioned whether she should venture a walk back home, or if she should continue and try to find her way to the destination. She started walking aimlessly in one direction and hoping it was the right way.

She began to take notice of a heavy flapping sound overhead, and she looked up anxiously. "Oh hello, Miss Rouge." She wasn't sure whether to feel happy or nervous, but she gave her a friendly smile all the same.

"Hi, Cream." She landed next to the small rabbit and returned the smile. "What are you doing out here all alone?"

"Well, I wasn't out here by myself to start with. All of the others went on without me," Cream peered up at the taller figure, trying to maintain eye contact respectfully. Rouge made this rather difficult, as she was glancing around the area with disinterest.

"Oh, poor dear." Because she wasn't really looking at Cream, the rabbit wasn't sure if she was being sarcastic or genuine.

"I'm out here on a little 'secret' mission you could say," she glanced down at the young rabbit. "But, hey, if you need some company I'll walk you to wherever you were heading."

Cream and Cheese exchanged a short, surprised glance. Cream looked back to Rouge, hands together in a hopeful manner. "Would you really, Miss Rouge?"

"Sure, why not?" She had this nonchalant air about her that made Cream question what she actually meant. "Which way were you all headed?"

Cream pointed in the direction she hoped was correct. Rouge nodded and started walking that way, Cream and Cheese followed after shrugging to one another.

"What sort of secret mission are you on?" Cream asked. She supposed she should try to make some kind of conversation along the way.

"Oh, just a quick one. It shouldn't take long after we find this place," Rouge replied, swaying in her walk in her usual way.

Cream was even more confused at this answer, but she nodded politely and pretended to understand. "Well, as long as we won't be getting in the way."

"Not at all."

Rouge eyed the surroundings carefully, thinking to herself how well the day was going. It wasn't every day she'd have such convenient timing. She supposed it wouldn't be long at all before they caught up to the others.

"Miss Rouge, I think I see them up ahead! "

Sure enough, Cream was right. She hopped up in excitement, before turning and giving a quick curtsy to Rouge. "Thank you for walking with me."

"No problem," Rouge smiled. "You could say I was heading this way anyway."

"Oh, that's good then!" Cream replied. She was so glad that she wasn't being a bother, that she didn't take much notice of the fact that Rouge continued to follow her as she approached the others.

"Oh, hey, Cream. Sorry we left ya back there," Sonic said, one hand on his hip. The other held the reason for their group's outing- a green chaos emerald. He looked at Rouge skeptically for a moment.

"It's alright," Cream dismissed. "Rouge helped me to get back to you."

The others- Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy- exchanged glances. Sonic at last turned back to them and spoke for the others," Thanks, Rouge!" As he said so, he realized that the chaos emerald in his hand was, unsurprisingly, missing.

Cream looked beside her in shock and saw that the bat was no longer there, but was hovering a few feet up in the air overhead.

"No, I should be thanking all of you! You really made the work day that much shorter, you know," Rouge called below. She winked at Cream before flying off into the blue, clouded sky.

Cream sighed and turned to the others. "…well, she did help me get here at least."

"I guess I better hurry while I'm at it," Sonic shrugged. "It's alright, I needed some exercise anyway!" He rushed off in hopes of catching the jewel thief.


	12. Silver and Tails

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by SpeedsMyGame over on fanfiction(dot.net).

"We really need to hurry. We don't know how much time we have left before…before _something_ horrible happens!" As he warned (not for the first time) he studied the machine that the other was building, much too slow for his urgency.

Tails sighed once again and gave a glance to Silver, partly showing some defeat and some of the same franticness. "I know, Silver, and I'm trying. But this takes time. If I don't get this right, something even worse could happen to us all."

Silver sighed, taking a cross-legged seat in the grass. "I'm sorry. I'm just…really worried."

"I know. I am too. But trust me." He went silent and focused solely on the task at hand. Silver was quiet this time and let the other do his work, his mind spinning.

If Tails' couldn't find a way for him to get back to the future, then he would be stuck in the present forever…and he _knew_ something bad would happen if someone from the future got trapped in the past- or, in their case the present. He still didn't understand why he couldn't teleport back to the future. It had to be some kind of short in Chaos energy, but he had never heard of that happening before…It was a mystery.

He only wished he could help Tails out, but he knew too little about those things to do so. So the best he could do was stay silent. Which was pretty sad the more he thought about it.

Tails, meanwhile, was working on monitoring the Chaos Emerald activity, which was of course the main power source for the device. If the Chaos Emerald wouldn't naturally teleport, then he'd have to do something to get a reaction using some sort of catalyst. He didn't know what though. Not yet, at least.

He scratched his head, frustrated. "Silver, in the future, have you ever had some kind of similar shortage in the Chaos energy?"

"I can't say I have," Silver replied, glancing up at him with worry," Maybe the reason it happened was _because_ of all the time travel. I hope not."

"Maybe. But do you know anything that might have a reaction with the Chaos Emerald?" Tails asked.

Silver thought for a moment, but because he was in such a rush nothing came to mind. At best, he tried to guess something that might work. "No, but maybe you could use a few power rings and get some extra energy from them?" He hoped his idea wasn't going to be the thing that _destroyed_ the device.

Tails contemplated the idea, as he hadn't seen too much reaction between the two things before. But time was ticking, and it was worth a shot. "Well, we should try it."

Silver got some of his rings from hammer space, hoping desperately that he wouldn't need it later. He handed them to Tails with a slight hesitation. "I hope I'm right."

Tails received them with just the same amount of hesitation, but he swallowed his fear and nodded to Silver. "Thank you. It's worth a try."

Silver sat back down on the grass, looking at the sky in attempt to look at anything but Tails. He felt the nerves prick at the fur on his back, and he knew that wasn't a good sign. Something told him that-

And then there was a loud pop.

Silver looked up at Tails and his device with horror, only to find that the device was still intact…just a bit shaken.

Tails didn't seem as disturbed, just rather cautious. He watched it carefully, stepping away just in case. "I put their energies together. I just need to make sure that nothing's going to go wrong before I see if it will open the portal."

"Right." He couldn't disagree to that. He watched the device with nervous energy, any moment expecting the thing to blow.

Yet it didn't.

At last, Tails gave a half-confident nod. "Alright, I think we can try it."

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure."

Tails reached for the switch, pausing for a second in contemplation before deciding he was serious about it. He wasn't going to let his nerves stop him. He didn't want to make Silver more nervous, anyway.

He flipped the switch, and for a long, silent moment nothing happened.

And then they saw a blue circle appear in midair. Silver stood up triumphantly. "Ha! I guess my idea was right!"

Tails laughed, mostly out of his stored nervous energy. "I guess so!"

The hedgehog turned to the kitsune and smiled appreciatively. "Thank you for doing this for me, Tails. I'm not sure what I would've done otherwise."

"You're welcome. I'm not sure what I would've done if you hadn't suggested that, honestly." He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"You would've figured it out eventually I'm sure," Silver replied, watching the portal expand and contract slowly. "Well, I guess I better head off…"

"Yeah, I guess so. See you later." He nodded to the portal and silently crossed his fingers that it would actually take him back.

"See you. Thanks again." He headed towards the blueness, the usual field of energy drawing him in. As he neared the leap into it, the pull suddenly stopped, and the portal suddenly vanished.

Silver looked back at Tails in question, and saw that Tails had his eyes back on the energy levels monitor.

The kitsune gave a quiet nervous laugh, explaining, "I think we took a bit too long saying goodbye. We're going to need more rings to maintain it longer."

"Oh," Silver laughed. "I was so relieved that it worked that I forgot that I was on a time limit here…"


	13. Mephiles and Sonic

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by Itzdarkky over on fanfiction(dot.net).

He felt the dark figure behind him long before he saw him. In fact, he felt it in a deeper, more spiritual sense than a physical one. In a way that he could not explain. He turned his head with the most caution he had shown in a long while. And sure enough, Mephiles was standing there, his piercing eyes focused solely on the blue hedgehog.

Sonic smirked it off. He knew he'd dealt with this before- somewhere- in another time and place. He knew he could handle it again. "Hey, what's up Mephy? It is Mephy, right?"

He knew in his soul, it wasn't wise to mock a demigod. That was the reason a shiver ran down his spine, and the reason he got such a rush from it. He loved that about it. At the same time, he hated it.

Mephiles only laughed, despite his nonexistent mouth. His appearance of lifelessness save for the voice unnerved Sonic. "You are still a juvenile creature. Yet I do not pity your own questionable mistakes, what it will cost you."

"Aww, are ya just mad that I gave ya a nickname?" The chaos blast that came out of nowhere- straight for his chest- let him know that Mephiles was not there to play games. So he cut to the chase and sped away just in time.

"You do not realize that you are facing your own demise. You have not yet learned that it is impossible to outrun death. Yet you will not get the chance to learn that lesson. Realize that." He shot another icy arrow in the direction he predicted Sonic's next move would be. He was strangely precise, he was strangely correct.

Sonic took a hit to the head, tumbled down, bleeding. He took no time in putting a hand to his head, steadying himself, and returning to a stand. He knew that the demigod could and would kick him while he was down. With a huff that seemed too exhausted to have come from him already, Sonic breathed," What do you even want from me?"

Mephiles paused, as if only to add tension to the other. Sonic knew that that was probably true. "I want to settle the scores. Nobody just takes me down and is free. No." He breathed audibly- no movement from his body as he did so. Sonic questioned if he even needed to breathe. "If you think you can simply destroy me, you should know that you will be the one destroyed."

Sonic prepared himself for the next move, knowing that Mephiles would make it. That's why he was shocked when no blast came. He spun to face Mephiles again, and realized that it had been a fatal mistake- a mere distraction. Mephiles took the opportunity immediately- the blue hedgehog now facing him and caught off guard.

He shot a chaos blast straight through the hedgehog.

* * *

Sonic awoke with a start, sweating profusely. He always forgot about the nightmare until it happened. And when it happened, he always forgot that it was just a nightmare after all. He eased back into the blankets, and tried to let his breathing steady.


	14. Zavok and Amy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by Itzdarkky over on fanfiction(dot.net).

"They're starting to close in, get the barriers ready," she ordered, a firmer, harder voice than Knuckles tended to have when he was in command. Something about the way she took charge was stricter, perhaps, but nonetheless everyone close by knew to obey right away. She was good at things like that.

She continued to watch the monitors, the approaching lead of Zeti, and prepared the next step in her mind. She was guarding the base of operations for Knuckles, after all, and she would hate for him to find out that the place had been destroyed under her charge. She prepared their weapons at the desk nearby. It would be any second now. She pulled her own hammer out from hammerspace and awaited the thump at the door. The troop around her was a bit more panicked, a bit more inexperienced, and as they used the computer monitors to check the surrounding areas, it was quite obvious to Amy that they were nervous. She felt a little pity for them, but she also knew that only the experience would ease their fears.

"Is everyone ready?" She asked cautiously. She knew that nobody there was _actually_ prepared, but it was the thought that counted.

"Yes, as ready as I'll ever be," a nearby boar replied slowly. He took a breath as he looked again at the monitor. "Here they are."

In that moment, there was a loud crashing sound at the door, followed by that said door toppling over a second later, revealing the six Zeti behind it. Thankfully, the door didn't hit anyone on its way down.

The Zeti gave no one a chance to think, and immediately went to terrorizing the room of soldiers. Zazz had already overpowered three of the soldiers, throwing them straight to the walls with a surprising force. Amy went after him at first, more worried that perhaps they hadn't had proper training than watching her own back. Although this was kind and leaderly of her, it also proved to be a dangerous move.

Zavok, the leader of these Zeti, noticed that her mind was preoccupied. And he used that to his advantage. With the same sort of blunt force that Zazz had shown, he pushed her from behind, straight to the floor where the rest of the soldiers were quickly beginning to fill the spaces.

"Nice job organizing a little welcoming committee for us," Zavok hissed, pinning her down flat on her stomach, solely so he could have a moment to mock her.

"Nice job a-acting like you've already won this fight," Amy retorted, straining to push herself up from her defenseless position.

He laughed, leaning in towards her ears so that she could better hear his triumph over the sound of her troop's screams. "Well, I'm not the one getting beat around here, am I? It's pretty easy acting like I've already won when it's _quite_ obvious that I actually will."

"D-don't count your chickens before they h-hatch!" Amy pushed against the weight of his hand, but somewhere in her mind she acknowledged the fact that, yes, physically he was much stronger than her. But at least she had resolve.

"Ha, I might actually pity you when this is through...but I probably won't." He leapt off to aid the rest of the Zeti in the battle. The battle that they were obviously winning.

Amy took the first opportunity she had to stand, despite the pain that standing caused her. She looked around and saw that her troops _were_ fighting back, but they were so greatly overcome.

She had no time to think of a strategy at this point, so she went straight to swinging her hammer at the nearest Zeti- who happened to be Zazz. The sudden swing to the head was unexpected, and he went toppling over easier than she had anticipated. She knew it wouldn't last long. The soldiers he had been attacking were all very worn out, but with nothing left to do Amy ordered them to go aid the others. They obeyed, loyal despite their injuries.

As soon as Zavok saw that Zazz had been knocked unconscious, he charged to the one responsible and attempted to grab her weapon from her. Which was his mistake. She easily produced another hammer- seemingly out of thin air- and for a brief moment she had stunned him. But it didn't do much.

He pushed her back, knowing that his strength was his advantage. She used all her might, trying to get herself far from the walls of the room, but she was running out of space. In a last moment's chance, she realized that she needed to use _her_ advantage against them- and it wasn't her hammer this time.

As her back hit the wall, and Zavok grinned at her perceived defeat, she called to her troops. "Everyone, we need to use an all group effort to do this! Pair up and use your strengths together to fight back! I could use some backup, please!" She had nearly forgotten that, after all, she was the leader. She needed to use that fact.

Zavok only laughed. "Even if all of you gnats joined together to fight, what would that do against _us_?"

"You...might be surprised," Amy retorted. She saw that two of the soldiers were coming her way, and she recognized that she needed to keep Zavok distracted. "Don't underestimate us gnats. All together, we can cause a whole lot of havoc." She locked eyes with him, unafraid, because she knew it would spite him. He gave a menacing growl, and suddenly he was knocked to the floor.

Amy quickly got herself free, thanked the soldiers, and then aided the rest of them in battle. As the Zeti saw that their leader was down, they slowly (although stealthily) made their way to the exit. Zik, at last, just ended up calling a retreat for them all, and they had no trouble agreeing.

When Zavok finally arose, he saw that the troops were surrounding him, and that his own Zeti were all gone. "Hch, they're more cowards than I thought." He muttered.

"Maybe you should go join them," Amy replied, more of an order than a suggestion.

Zavok shook his head slowly. "I will go, but I'll come back when they all learn a lesson in courage. _Then_ you should be worried." He left after that, and Amy surveyed the damage done.

There were many injuries, and dents on the walls and floors, but there were no fatalities. She was thankful for that.

"It may have been rough, but overall everyone did well. Nobody fled, and I think that is definitely a step forward. Good job, everyone. Let's get this place cleared up, and bring the injured to the first-aid station," Amy announced. Everyone nodded in reply.

As she looked back over the monitors, making sure the Zeti were really gone for now, she got the unsettling feeling that she knew they'd have to go up against them again someday. But at least she had the experience now. She knew what to expect. She told herself that, next time, she would make sure that everybody was truly prepared. Including herself. 


	15. Mephiles and Infinite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by That Speedhunter over on fanfiction(dot.net).

Somewhere in the ending, and yet not his own ending. He had expected to wake up and find that he was back within Eggman's base, perhaps, or maybe even to find that he was in an entirely different existence. Instead, he found himself in some dark place, the smell of smoke present but distant.

He shook his head to try and clear his thoughts, wondering to himself if this was all an illusion or not. But all of his thoughts were silenced when he realized he wasn't the only one there.

"Hello. Welcome to this...alternate plane of existence."

Infinite turned to look behind him, and there he saw a figure- very familiar, almost too familiar- it looked almost exactly like the one who had taunted him before. The one who had been the first, the first one to show his weaknesses to him. The first one who caused him to build off of his past self, to become the stronger, almost all-powerful being that he was, to leave that weakling version of himself in the past. And to think that his new, powerful self was defeated. To think that all too easily he was-

"You are probably still evaluating your defeat, I'm sure. You are probably quite angry at yourself. But you will get over it. Trust me."

"WHO ARE YOU?" Infinite turned around, fully facing the figure, outrage redirected from himself, turned outwards.

"I am Mephiles the Dark. Though I am not the one you should be worried about...yet," the being said.

"So then what are you doing here? How did _I_ get here? How is it that you look so much like...like _him_? You better start explaining yourself, because I may have been setback by them, but I can still fight. I _will_ still-"

Mephiles' laughing interrupted him. "Silence yourself. Who are you, to question me like this? You don't seem to understand your circumstances. But you will."

Infinite began to say something, but he was quickly struck down with some form of energy he hadn't anticipated. He groaned in confusion and pain, but not in defeat. "What, what was that for?!"

"You must understand your place," Mephiles growled, arm outstretched, and eyes looking down upon the jackal he had struck. Infinite saw this and, all in one moment, he got the strongest urge to take on this being called "Mephiles" and show him that he had been greatly mistaken in underestimating his opponent. But for that moment, his injury kept him down.

"I have been here longer than you, and all this time I have been waiting for my escape. Actually, I've been _planning_ my escape. So if I were you, I would find it wise to not make an enemy out of me. If you were to prove to be on my side, perhaps I'd be kind enough to let you live. Or maybe kind enough to let you share in my escape." _Or perhaps cruel enough to let you think that I believe your words._

Infinite thought for a long moment. On one hand, he knew that surrendering was weakness, and that he would never again let someone -especially in the form of Shadow- have power over him. On the other, he realized that his surrender would not necessarily be a weakness, or a mistake, but rather it would be avoiding both of those, so long as it was only a pretend surrender. He would still be the one on top of things, unbeknown to Mephiles, but still. That was the best form of power. (Though, the form that Mephiles had still reminded him too much of the time when he had been in weakness. That part was a bit hard to let go of. But he would let go, for he was stronger than that).

"Fine then," Infinite huffed. He rose to his aching legs with difficulty, but he masked this as best he could. "I will not fight you." He tried not to smirk. Perhaps it would be too easy.

"Good. At least you have some wisdom in you." Mephiles put his arm back to his side, and he gave a laugh- a sort of laugh that Infinite had not expected. The other realized how eerie and strange it was that Mephiles spoke and laughed with no mouth to do so with. But Infinite didn't let it show. "What do you call yourself?" His eyes focused on the jackal, emotionless despite his laughter.

"I am Infinite." The jackal replied, steadying his breath again. No sign of weakness.

"And how did you come to defeat?"

Infinite's anger snapped at the question, but he showed no signs. He tried to keep himself as emotionless as the Dark before him. "I was not defeated. I was setback by some blue hedgehog that I will not mention the name of. And his allies with him."

"Ah, so that blue hedgehog is still around. I suspected it. At least we have a common enemy." Mephiles looked into the jackal's eyes- knowing well that Infinite was masking it all, quite insincere- and to him the anger and denial was obvious. Unlike the mortals, he was not afraid of anyone's feelings, or what actions they could cause, because he knew exactly how to use those feelings to his advantage. And he would. "But you have much to learn."

Infinite did his best to calmly ask, "How so?" But he was already questioning how long he could fake this "alliance".

"If you will not even admit that you were defeated, you will never learn how to benefit from your mistakes."

"It was not a mistake. I was just not entirely prepa-"

"That unpreparedness is a mistake, whether you will confess it or not. And the longer you live in denial, the longer you will continue in error."

Infinite said nothing back, but he was inclined to.

"Even I admit to having a defeat, and I am much higher up than you." He knew that he had hit the mark.

"Who says?" Infinite burst. "I was much weaker once, I admit to that, but I couldn't have been defeated now. I was too powerful for that."

"Then how did you end up here?" Mephiles laughed. "This is nonexistence."

"What? But it can't be. I-"

"Look around you and be honest about what you really see, for once. I'm not sure what you did to get here, but you are here. And there's only one way to get out…"

"But I-"

"Stop denying it. Perhaps you have been deceiving yourself for too long, with that Phantom Ruby in your chest."

"But I- wait, how did you know about the Phantom Ruby?" Infinite demanded.

And Mephiles only laughed. Infinite began to realize that his laugh had a lot more meaning than he thought, and that perhaps he had gotten into more than he imagined.

"There are many things that you deceive yourself with. You wear the gem on your own body, and yet you don't know where it's been. You don't know its origin."

"Stop acting like you are something that you aren't! Perhaps it is you who is deceived!"

"That is a funny thing to say to a demi-god. How much do you think I already know, Infinite? Because I think I know more than you can imagine."

Infinite took an involuntary step back, realizing his situation though reluctant to acknowledge it. He tried to focus on his own way out. "You don't scare me. I have learned more in time than you think I have. I-"

"And yet you are _inferior_." He paused on the word. "You will never find a way out without my assistance. The sooner you admit it, the better. The sooner that you simply see that I am the powerful one here."

He obviously enjoyed taunting the other, and this was the only way that Infinite forced himself back into his pretend, deciding it was for the better. So that he would make sure Mephiles had no fun in doing it, to lie down and pretend that he gave in only to be playing mind games. He was determined to win in mind games.

"I suppose you're right." He muttered. "I made mistakes all along the way. I _was_ defeated. And now I need your help in escaping my defeat."

"Good." Mephiles would have smirked, had he had a mouth to do so. "You are halfway through the battle. Now we just have to get out of here and repay a visit to our dear enemies..."

Infinite closed his eyes and nodded, what he thought to be secret dominance disguised in the form of pretend submission.

Mephiles gazed at him with a knowing mind, understanding that the jackal was much too arrogant to give in, understanding that they had no agreement at all. He was just going to have to play it to his own benefit. He laughed again, because he was the truly undefeated one. Because he was the one in control of the mind games.


	16. Metal Sonic and Blaze

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by SonicAnother over on fanfiction(dot.net).

Even with Big's instructions it had taken awhile for her to find the place in Mystic Ruins, but at long last she had stumbled upon it. At long, long last.

She looked around, a bit dismayed in the normal, uninterrupted scenery around her. The plants, the river, the rocks all seemed completely in place and...unbothered. It irritated her to think that all of her hunting was for nothing. She would have liked to head back home right then, but she decided against it. Because she knew better. She continued along the overgrown path and looked around for a sign of anything unusual- any disruption in this world of green.

She had a feeling that whatever she had heard reported in Mystic Ruins had the potential to be a threat. Even if it wasn't, it wouldn't be a bad idea to make sure. She had had enough of letting things slide and then having to mend things afterwards...even if it wasn't her idea in the first place to let those things slide.

The sounds of the jungle chirping around her seemed to be droning on eternally, but still she kept alert for anything suspicious. At this point it seemed rather pointless.

And then she just so happened to spot something in the distance to her right- something metallic, blue, and definitely not of nature. It wasn't moving, and at first she stood motionless in place because she feared it was watching her. But then she realized that what she was looking at was not standing up, and it didn't even have its eyes opened.

Whatever it was, it was not showing any signs of being active.

With a cautious spontaneity, Blaze ran to it, using leaves for cover as she went. As best she could, anyway.

When she reached it, her suspicions were confirmed that it was inactive. She approached it closer, and studied it carefully for a moment.

It was a blue robot, gray on parts of its limbs and face, yellow on the insides of its ears and on the middle of its body, and red on its 'shoes'. Its eyes- or what she was supposing were 'eyes'- were shut off it seemed.

But there were two things that struck her the most about it.

For one thing, it looked quite like another blue hedgehog that she knew, and for a moment she was afraid that something had happened to Sonic to turn him this way. But remembering that she had seen Sonic earlier, she knew it couldn't have been him.

The second thing she noticed most was that its head was dented- and by the looks of it- it was probably caused by the tree that it was at the base of. It must have been a rather hard hit, because even the tree bark was chipped off and broken in that area.

She wasn't exactly sure what to do with this machine. Most of the robots that she knew of were Eggman's, but she couldn't say for sure that it was true for this one. After all, Omega may have been one of Eggman's, but he had been repurposed, and the same could probably go for this robot in front of her. Plus, there was also Gemerl...

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed that its eyes- or what she had guessed were its 'eyes'- started to "awaken". They were a gleaming red color, and they alarmed her immediately. She leapt back, leaning against another tree for support, watching the robot carefully.

It became very obvious to her that it was really confused. Probably its sensors were messed up from the hit. It tried to sit up, some sort of mechanical thing whirring inside of it as it attempted- and failed- to sit upright. It kept its eyes on her the whole time, trying to identify her it seemed like.

Blaze couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy towards it, despite her cautiousness. It didn't seem like it was able to do anything dangerous- it couldn't do anything at all hardly- so she took the chance at trying to communicate with it. Couldn't have been the worst idea she'd have.

"Who are you?"

It turned its head towards her, and paused for such a long time that Blaze was almost certain that it wasn't going to answer. She thought about just leaving it alone, but before she could actually take the step, it spoke.

"Metal Sonic. Identify yourself."

Blaze looked the machine up and down, eventually somewhat frowning upon it. "I would rather not reveal it to you yet. But I would like to know more about you. Where are you from?"

"I am...I am located...I am-" Static interrupted his speech.

"Well, that's fine. I can wait to find out."

She watched the machine as he struggled to settle himself upright. She decided that even if he were to attack, he was already damaged and would be no match against her. She was just going to have to give him a chance. Who knows, maybe he needed one.

"Here." She reached her hand out to his, and the robot analyzed it slowly.

"How am I supposed to process this?"

"Take my hand," she clarified," I'm trying to help you stand up."

He obeyed, and he stood up pretty easily after that, despite the confusion he must have experienced. He looked at her with a somewhat reluctant gratefulness, still obviously confused on whether or not he was supposed to be doing the things he was doing. "What is your directive?" he asked, in between the sounds of static that tried to drown him out.

"I am here to...investigate these forests. I was trying to figure out what a machine was doing out here. Do you remember what you were doing?" She asked, careful of her wording.

"I was…" Suddenly, his red eyes seemed to get brighter. "I was sent to find Sonic The Hedgehog."

She was suddenly very intrigued by this robot. "Sonic? What for?"

The robot's head sunk for a moment, trying to recall his purpose. "I'm...uncertain."

Blaze waited a moment longer, trying to figure out what she should do with him. "Well, we know someone in common at least. I have met him before, you see. He tends to know many people." She smiled a bit, realizing that she wouldn't even be willing to talk to this robot if it weren't for that hedgehog. Not that she was letting her guard down. She was just more willing to ease up, more willing to give him a chance.

"Yes, I was to find him...find him...Where is he?"

"I'm not sure now." She was rather happy that she _didn't_ know, after all she was trying to keep the lying for protection reasons to a minimum. "But, we could maybe walk around and see if it jogs your memory of him any."

"Affirmative."

They started to walk back the way that Blaze had came, though much slower than before, as Metal Sonic was still discombobulated and hobbled along very slowly.

It was a bit strange, but he seemed like he was cheerful to be walking somewhere- maybe 'happy' to get out of that area. She didn't quite understand how robotic emotions worked, but at least it _seemed_ to be that he was pretty calm at least.

"Do you remember anything else about before you blacked out?" Blaze asked.

"...A battle. I was in battle with a...another being. I am not certain of why. We were fighting, and then I made an impact with that tree, and that was it."

"Oh." She looked around a bit, wondering if that person was still around...and if so, if they were on Eggman's side or not. "Did you see which way they went?"

"Negative."

Well, what else could she possibly ask to help him regain his memory?

"Do you remember ever being in this place at any other time?" She tried.

It took him a moment, but the answer was," Affirmative."

It seemed that his long-term was better off than his short-term memory. "Do you remember what you were doing then?"

His eyes seemed to zoom out in reflection, but she knew that it was probably only her perceived expectation of what she thought she should have seen. Perhaps.

"I was...searching." He seemed perplexed. The static was becoming increasingly loud.

She put one ear to the side, trying to understand him through it. "I'm sorry, did you say 'searching'? I think we need to get to somewhere where I can see if I can fix-"

Suddenly, the robot started to shut on and off, red eyes flickering.

Blaze watched with a bit of concern, and a lot of confusion. "What's happening? Are you alright?"

"Error...Processing...Error…" Suddenly, his eyes went completely blank and he collapsed to the ground.

Blaze stood over him, unsure of what she should do. She wasn't just going to leave him there, but she didn't know where to take him either.

She ultimately decided to search him for his maker's trademark. There had to be some sort of sign on him...somewhere. It wasn't unusual to have one, at least.

Eventually, she found it. A small mark written on the flipside of his "shoe". And it was unmistakably Eggman's trademark. She looked up from the place that she was kneeling, making sure that he was still inactive. And he was. His eyes were still missing their red glow, and he was absolutely still.

She felt a bit of determination at her discovery, to her surprise. Determination that this could be the opportunity that she should definitely take, to prevent further injury and damage to anyone else. It was perfect, really- he was unaware of his true purpose, and so long as time didn't fix it, he wouldn't be aware of it for a very long while. Maybe this was a second chance for him.

* * *

"Metal Sonic." She tapped on his plating, hoping that perhaps, like a flesh-and-blood being, it would rouse him.

She had done her best to fix the damage that was done, but she was no mechanic (and, unfortunately, Tails hadn't answered her call). She had moved him out from the forest, back into the nearest town she could find. She figured it would be safer to try and work on him there...and besides, she would need to get the tools for it anyway.

Even if he didn't become active again, she supposed she hadn't lost either way. It was still better that he was unable to turn back to Eggman, no matter how it happened.

Still, in her heart, she did wish that maybe she'd be able to give him a second chance to leave Eggman, just as she'd heard Amy describe before- the way Gamma's mind had changed. Blaze was very good at masking this wish, however. She pretended indifference.

"Error...System error…" broke the silence, coming from somewhere within the robot. It surprised her, but she didn't move in the least.

"Are you there?"

"Processing…" And another long silence.

Blaze's tail flicked back and forth, as she watched cautiously from where she was standing. She took a few steps back for good measure.

"Affirmative." Metal Sonic stood up from the bench table that he was set on, and he glanced around the area. Blaze realized that the sort of glance he had was quite different than the one he had had before. Less calm, if that was his previous 'emotion', and much sharper than last time.

It also had this confusion to it that was different than the confusion he showed before. Because this time it seemed he understood his surroundings, and possibly himself...just not the cat that was standing in front of him.

"Blaze the Cat...Princess of the Sol Dimension."

"How did you know that?" Blaze snapped. She'd forgotten the possibility that he might be able to sense who _she_ was too. She felt rather silly for forgetting that.

"My scanners pick up data. And I am uncertain of the directions I am receiving."

"What...what directions?"

"Conflicting information…"

And then Blaze realized.

"I must return to Dr. Eggman." With no further words, he hopped off the table and started to walk off.

"Wait! Why don't you stay for a minute?" She wasn't sure what to do to keep his attention, but she knew that she wasn't going to let her effort be wasted and his chance taken.

"What should I wait for?" He looked down, away for a moment. She could've sworn she saw something in him, but she knew it was just her own projection of perceived emotion onto him. Possibly. "I must go back to him to receive orders on the location of the enemy."

"Well, I can give you a new objective," Blaze said. She gave him the same sort of emotionless, straightforward look that he was made with, hoping it got through to him.

"You are not my programmer. You were only a means of repair for me. I cannot receive orders from you…" He turned to face her, rather than walking off right away. She was just as surprised at this as he seemed to be. "I appreciate your effort nonetheless."

"So you _can_ think for yourself."

He didn't respond in words, but walked back towards her. Even more to her surprise.

"Please, Metal Sonic. Just because Eggman orders you around, doesn't mean you have to follow. You can still change your motives. I've known robots that have done it before."

"My one purpose is to serve Eggman, and to destroy Sonic. To surpass Sonic. There is no other reason for me to be here. No other purpose for me to have been created. That is all."

"But how do you know? You have never tried to have any other purpose." She sat down at the bench, hoping that he would see it and take the signal to wait a bit longer.

"I do not want to have another purpose. All I want is to complete the one that I already have."

"But do you really think you'll feel complete when you accomplish it?"

Metal Sonic stared at her, not moving, not speaking. She wished that she could understand his thought process, but having only robot "emotions" made that hard to tell.

She watched him back with sympathy, letting itself show. Perhaps he would read it on her face and feel like it was reason enough to think about her words. She was genuine about it, and she hoped he could tell that through his sensors.

"I _will_ feel complete." With that, he began walking off again.

"Don't you want to be better than those other Egg Pawns?" Blaze asked. It was really her last argument for him. Her last attempt at trying to win him over."Those Egg Pawns that just listen to Eggman, don't have minds of their own, and don't think things through for themselves? Don't you want to be better than that?"

Metal Sonic's claw-like hands closed up, and though she couldn't see his face, she was pretty sure his eyes had become a brighter red.

"I already am better than all of them. And I will prove that I am better than the blue hedgehog, too. I will become what he never was."

Blaze crossed her arms, realizing now that his mind would not be changed. After all of that. It angered her, but really she felt more pity than anger. Pity that he could never be anything truly better. That he could never become anything more, his eyes closed to any opportunity.

"Well, I'm sorry that it has to be that way. But, really, please think about it."

She didn't get a response, but she hoped that he would, as he fled off into the distance. She supposed that she should have chased, but she was hoping that on the way back, he would be changing his mind.

It sort of reminded her of her old self. Only interested in one purpose, and not anyone or anything else. Missing out on many things in life, by being too afraid to let anyone else in. Maybe that's why she felt sorry that she could not convince him.

But she could still hope that he might change his mind at least.


	17. Rouge and Fang

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by a guest and That Speedhunter over on fanfiction(dot.net).

Ten minutes. By the looks of it, whoever her fellow rival thief was, they had a ten minute lead on her. Darn it. There was no way she could catch up to them, even by flight. She would just have to hope that they were going to have trouble finding the exact location. No doubt, they probably didn't have as good locational sense as her.

She used the wind to drift quicker than she could herself, and she kept a keen eye trained below in case her tracker was slow today. In case they happened to cross paths before getting to the caverns.

It wasn't long before she spotted some people that her device had not picked up on. From what she could see, it was a tall, off-white polar bear, trudging along through the thick forest below. She smirked, knowing that he probably wished he had her wings right about now. Beside this polar bear, there was a small, green duck, hopping along over-enthusiastically. She knew by the looks of them exactly what that meant. Her competition had left them behind, no question about it. And that meant there was only one person it could be. She cursed under her breath and focused straight ahead.

When she finally found the cave within sight, she wasted no time in landing onto the mossy jungle floor below. She knew her device would lose its signal after she entered the cavern, but by the looks of it her rival was already somewhere deep within it. How lovely. She folded up her small device and stuck it in her jumpsuit. There was no point in wasting time now.

She followed after him.

* * *

Another hook was pushed into the crevice of the rock face, and Fang pulled onto the rope to make sure it stayed that way. He hoisted himself up afterwards, boots meeting rocks and gloves holding on tightly to the rope above. This was, unfortunately, one of his disadvantages as a weasel. Not nearly enough climbing ability as he would like to have. He muttered a curse and worked his way to the top. At long last. It felt like time was wasted every time he had to climb up somewhere, but he knew that there were several more climbing places up ahead.

He pulled his rope back up and coiled it around his left arm, hustling forward the moment he did. It was pitch dark yet again, so he turned the light on his helmet up a notch.

It was so satisfying, in multiple ways, to finally escape the stupidity of his "companions". Finally, adventure out on his own, like the treasure hunter he knew he had much more potential for. He breathed in the freezing cave air, and decided that it was the smell of a well-deserved break. It was the smell of discovery and independence.

Then he heard a thud, somewhere within the same cavern. He stopped in his tracks for a moment, trying to decide what it sounded most like. It could have been some sort of stalactite, falling down from the ceiling above, but he had his doubts. There was a presence to this noise. He cursed again, breaking into the most silent dash he could manage. Whether there was someone there or not, it wasn't worth the risk of finding it out. Whatever sort of treasure lied in this cave, it was his and his alone. He gritted his teeth, pushing himself faster. Of course someone had to interrupt his peaceful raid.

* * *

Rouge stood silent for a few moments after her little mishap- her heel accidentally catching on a crevice, causing her to lose balance long enough for her to fall. She would have been embarrassed had anyone else been there. But that's what laying off on treasure hunting for so long does to someone. She only hoped that Nack didn't hear her. Maybe his ears weren't as good as hers. Maybe.

But he had a head-start, and she was going to have to think of a way to outsmart him to get there. That was her only shot.

She flew up towards the caverns' ceiling, searching for signs of a tunnel of sorts, perhaps dug by another bat, through the soil and rock. She managed to find a way through the stalactites, a small path-like tunnel that had seen much wear. It was worth a try though, and she pushed her way into it, ignoring the grime that threatened to coat her. If she could find her way through this, that treasure was as good as hers.

* * *

Things were finally getting close. He could see the crevice in the wall, directly over a pool of water that had been built up over time. It was rather large at this point, but Fang paid no mind to that. He dove into the murky cave water like it was his own bathtub. He was a great swimmer, anyways, and what could some dirty water do to him?

He latched onto the surrounding wall as well as he could, and that's where he had an issue. His gloves were slick from the water, and as such he could barely hang onto the rocks. Why didn't he think of this? Angrily, he tore off his gloves and used his claws to grasp the stones. Planting his slippery boots as best he could (there was no way he was leaving them behind), he forced his way up the wall. He nearly collapsed when he reached the foothold in the crevice. Right here. He just had to dig into it, and if there was any truth to the stories, the treasure would be there. And he had reason to believe it was true.

He used his left hand to dig out the soil, and yelped when his claw struck something more solid than he had planned. He quickly remembered to be quiet and muttered a complaint against himself. Of course. He must have hit the chest itself.

He worked his way around the chest, doing his best not to let it drop into the water below. He had no way of telling how deep it was, so he'd take no chances.

Sweating, shivering slightly, he at last clasped the chest in the hand he wasn't using to hold onto the wall with. Though, the crevice was so tight, his boots probably would have been able to stand there securely themselves. He groaned with strain and suppressed triumph. Now just to work his way carefully back down.

"Thanks for the jewels." A voice, close-by and not bothering to be soft-spoken, echoed around the cave chamber, startling Fang half to death.

The chest was snatched by someone above, and Fang looked up to see Rouge burrowing back into her ceiling-tunnel, treasure chest in her hands. He growled after her, swearing and cursing his heaviest. He pulled himself up from the crevice, nearly falling into the water below. Without hesitation, he followed her into the tunnel.

He would have shot after her too, if it wasn't for the fact that, if he hit her, he wouldn't be able to climb over her body to find his way out of the tunnel. He hardly knew the directions that the tunnel would take, but he still crawled at full speed, fury taking him over.

As soon as he came to the end of it, he saw that the only way back down onto the cavern floor was a rather large, looming distance of freefall. Of course, treasure hunters know what is important in any sort of possible fatality situation. You never let a rival get away with treasure that belongs to you.

He leapt down, eyes still looking about keenly for the sight of anything breathing. As he landed feet-first, he called out, not even skipping a beat," If I were you, I'd give it up right now." He pulled back on his gun to load it as he took off running towards the entrance and exit of the cave.

Rouge, meanwhile, had taken the treasure chest as far from that cave as she could in such a short time. Though her breathing was now heavy from the chase, she was well adapted to keeping it quiet by now. She also had the peace of mind that she had already formulated her escape plan, should this have happened, beforehand.

She opened the chest, once she stopped flying at a safe enough distance, despite the shake in her hands. The treasure wasn't a disappointment; it sparkled and gleamed with blue, gold and green in ways that almost could have impressed her, had she less experience with treasures. She grinned at the perceived cunningness of her plan.

* * *

Bean and Bark, finally close to the location of their leader, felt suddenly ominous of the area. Bean mentioned this several times, but Bark simply shrugged it off. Though the duck could tell that Bark was more alert now than before.

Suddenly, they found out why. A treasure chest came flying out of a nearby tree, nearly knocking Bark in the head if he hadn't been already suspicious. Bean ran over to it instantly, unafraid of whatever happened to be inside. Which turned out to be nothing.

"Well, that was sort of anti-clima-"

Rouge, following suit after the chest, appeared soon after, interrupting his statement. "Ugghhh, all that for _this_?" She kicked the chest further from Bean's view. "I guess not all legendary treasures are to be trusted after all."

"Treasure? So...you were after the same ol' myth as Fang, eh?" Bean laughed as if it was the funniest joke on the planet. "Wait 'till I see his face when I tell him it was fake! He'll- he'll have to trust me from now on. Ha! I told him- I told him...and you beat him to it!" Another fit of laughter took him over after that, and he could no longer form coherent words.

Bark just crossed his arms and shook his head despairingly.

"Well, I'll just leave this for you two to show him then. I'm sure he'll have more use of it than me." The treasure hunter huffed and flew away in a hurry.

What they didn't know was that the compartments in her clothes were full of the gems that were supposedly nonexistent.

* * *

Fang came back in a frenzy as wild as the one Rouge left in, gun aiming recklessly, teeth grinding against each other. "You! You guys! Have you seen that little- that little- that-" The anger in his voice made it hard for him to form words coherently. "Ugh, where is she?!"

"Ya just missed her. But guess what we got…" Bean held the treasure chest up, holding in laughter, still.

Fang's eyes had never looked so pleased towards Bean before. Bean would have felt bad about joking with it had he actually cared much about anything.

"You guys found it…" He took it into his hands, slowly, dropping his gun back onto his belt. He opened it slowly.

"Well, I mean, we-"

He was disastrously interrupted. Bark stepped back in caution.

"And you had the nerve to take it from me..." Fang growled. "What? Got it back from Rouge and cowarded down to hide it for yourself? What did you-"

"Well yeah, we got it back from Rouge, but it was empty. She was really mad, herself. I told you, the legendary treasures were just a myt-"

"I KNOW they were in there! It was heavier before! What did you all do with them?" He brought his gun back out, slowly, so he could draw the tension.

Bean hid behind Bark, and Bark- poor Bark- he was probably the only one who could've explained enough to calm anyone down. But it was too late for that.

They ran for their lives.


	18. Manic and Tails

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by SharpDragonKlaw over on fanfiction(dot.net).

He had never had quite the speed or endurance of his brother; but if there was one thing he did have in common it was a stubborn will. His brother had long been out of his line of sight, but that never stopped Manic before.

Sometimes he was a bit envious of the fact that Sonic could travel so quickly, anywhere he wanted, apparently without having to tell anyone.

Even though he wasn't near as fast as his brother, the landscape around him still seemed to blur into one large undistinguishable color. At times like that, he was downright impressed with his speed. He smirked and looked upwards to the sky, hoping to be less light-headed that way. The evening was well on its way into night, and so the sun wasn't much of a hindrance to him. It almost seemed like he had been searching for far too long for a brother that didn't even have interest in contacting him much. He thought a few times about stopping and asking for some insight from someone else; like if he was still going the right way, which he could hardly tell. He thought, maybe once or twice, about going back and hanging with that princess he had happened to bump into during his journey across the acorn kingdom. She seemed like a cool person, if a bit busy and frustrated.

But that was when he bumped into someone else, quite literally.

With the distraction of his mind, it took him twice as long to figure out what had happened so suddenly. Because, out of nowhere, he was sprawled out onto the grass, with a pain aching in his head and abdomen. He lied there, hearing a small voice repeating something over and over again. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out what the words meant.

For a long disorienting moment, he believed he was back in his childhood home, passed out in bed. Sonia was standing in the doorway, telling him over and over again that he needed to wake up, it was twelve in the afternoon, he was such a lazy slouch, such a-

A yell.

He sat straight up, no longer in bed, no longer in any familiar place at all. He was outside of some sort of strange garage, and there was someone unfamiliar by his side, shaking him.

"Hey? Hey? Can you...can you hear me?" He seemed sort of confused himself.

"Yeah...yeah, I think so." It was then that Manic realized that he had been running moments prior, and that therefore he must have hit into whoever this yellow blur of a person was. And whatever memory he had just been inside of probably didn't exist. Since...he and his sister had been raised apart. Right?

"Are you alright? You look sorta...confused? I think? To be honest, I'm not sure myself. I've gotten a bit blurry-visioned, too." And then nervous laughter.

"Oh, I'm-I'm...ok." He steadied his head with his hand, and turned it to face the yellow blur.

And both of them, seemingly at the same time, saw each other fully without the fuzziness.

"Oh man. I'm- I'-m sorry about that. Man, I must have taken you by surprise…" Manic said. He hoped that his mind would start to operate normally, but it didn't seem to clear as quickly as his vision did.

"Oh, no, you're fine. I mean, you did take me by surprise, but I think I'll be okay. We both might bruise later, that's a high probability, but I should be fine otherwise," the fox replied. "Are you alright?"

"I-I think so." He took the fox's assistance and they both stood up.

The fox dusted himself off, obviously sore. "So...why were you running so fast? Is- is there an emergency?"

"Well, nah, I was just-just…" And what was he doing? His mind froze up for a moment, and he couldn't think of a single reason he'd gotten out of bed that morning. That bed that he was almost certain didn't really exist. I mean, he _hadn't_ grown up with his sister around and the bed was probably just a false memory- just then it came to him. "I was looking for my brother."

"Oh? Is he alright? What- what was-" The fox groaned suddenly. "I'm sorry, I can't really think quite normally myself right now. What I mean is...is he alright? Is he lost?"

"Oh, no, not really. He's alright. I was just trying to catch up with him is all…"

"Well, gee, he must be pretty hard to spot. I was out here this whole time, and I never saw anyone." He sat down on the ground, taking a deep breath.

"He is really quick, you might not have been able to see him anyway," Manic replied. Apparently the hit hadn't quite taken him as hard as it had to the fox, because while the fox was still steadying himself, he felt almost back to usual. Or so he thought.

"Maybe I've seen him around here? What's his name?"

"Oh, it's-" He realized that perhaps he wasn't entirely normal. Because he was pretty sure it wasn't completely normal to totally forget your own brother's name.

The fox was patient, but he was also smart enough to realize when nothing productive was coming out of all of the stuttering and muttering that followed. "You...really don't know?"

"Nope. Not a clue, heh heh…" He awkwardly sat down beside the fox, brushing his own bangs back from his eyes nervously. "Yeah...you probably think I'm really dumb."

"No, but I am slightly concerned now." The fox laughed, out of nervous habit, and a bit because he wasn't sure how he was going to get back to his machines after this. "You must have been shaken up by that hit...It could be a bad sign if it persists for too much longer...but it could just be a short-term thing, too. Head injuries are really tricky…"

"You know a lot about them?"

"Well, let's just say I've seen my fair share, and I'm a pretty learned guy…"

They both shared a round of nervous laughter.

"You, um...remember your name?" The fox said, quietly.

"Manic. I-I remember that much."

"Huh. Well, that's good. I'm Miles, err, Tails, by the way." He twiddled his fingers as he tried to think of something productive to ask. "Did you, um, travel from far?...do you remember?"

"Well, sorta far, but my bro always hangs around here, so...um...whoever he is...I came to visit him."

"Oh…"

"I've got a sis too. She ain't here, though. I don't think…"

"And you don't remember either of their names?"

"Sonia. I remember Sonia...that's my sister, I mean. I just don't remember his name..."

"Oh...Well, hey, I think...I think I might have an idea!" Tails jumped up suddenly, forgetting about his dizziness altogether.

"What is it, dude?"

"Maybe I could help you remember! I just made this thing the other day, and it's not exactly made for memory loss, but it could help you to remember anyway and-"

"Whoa dude, you mean a 'thing' as in-"

"A machine, if you will. I was testing on it to be able to help locate Chaos Emeralds, if you know what those are, by being able to read into the minds of any of those who might be hiding it from us intentionally. I was hoping that maybe a side-effect of it would be that it would also be able to see the place the emeralds were last seen if they'd been seen, but forgotten by someone i-"

"And, ya mean, you've never actually tried it on anyone before?"

Tails tried not to look slightly taken aback, but he obviously had been hoping Manic wouldn't ask. "Well, I mean, I know it's safe enough right now. There's always got to be a first test and all, but I see no evidence that-"

"No way!"

"Well-"

"That's totally epic! I'll do it!"

Tails looked at him in surprise, wondering if he was joking or not. He'd never actually seen someone so eager to try out a machine for him.

Manic was already standing up and looking around for wherever this machine was. "C'mon, c'mon, I'm down to try it."

"Well...Ok…" Tails lead him back into the garage of his workshop.

* * *

The next thing he knew, he was nervously aligning the machine's visor with Manic's forehead. The machine itself was a very small but complex thing. It had a larger screen that was mounted to the cemented floor, with wires that lead out to the smaller visor- the part that actually functioned as a mind scanner, in a way.

Through all of Tails' experiences, he really wasn't nervous about testing out the machine for the first time.

Manic, however, was a different story. He found the idea of being the first to ever try something was an exciting opportunity...but the more he thought about that idea, the more he tried to hide his nervousness from the fox he'd just met. And he wondered if it was in his nature to trust strangers so easily. Of course, really, he knew he'd done more dangerous, risky things than that. But, if he remembered right...his sister had had to save him from a few bad ideas before.

"Hey, almost ready. Just aligning a few things up." Tails gave him a reassuring thumbs-up, and it gave Manic a few sudden memories.

A blue hedgehog, carelessly throwing him a thumbs-up as if that fixed everything that was going on. A blue hedgehog that was somehow too familiar to him.

"Take a seat, I think that will help get a more clear reading," the fox added, as he was still working on the main screen.

"Oh, alright…" He took a seat in the folding chair that was set up close to the machine, but his mind was still focusing on that one memory. Or what he assumed to be a real memory.

But, the blue hedgehog...reminded him of himself in a weird way. He seemed pretty chill, pretty bold, and maybe a tad reckless. Maybe just as reckless and daring as himself. Maybe more. But this blue hedgehog...had something to do with the hedgehog he remembered as his sister. They were Manic, Sonia, and…

"Sonic was supposed to be back by now...He probably would've been able to help me fix this thing up a little faster…" Tails muttered to himself. He was still fiddling with the dials on the screen, and evidently he had no idea that Manic would have heard him. Let alone that he would have had such a reaction to it. "Alright, all set. Are you ready to start th-"

"Sonic!" Manic, without really thinking about it, threw off the visor. "Manic, Sonia, and Sonic!"

"What do you me- Hey, wait a minute! You-" Tails wasn't entirely sure how to react to what had happened, but the first thing that came to his mind was how his machine's piece had been broken so suddenly. His machine he worked so hard on broken in one second. He took a breath and looked to Manic, who was still in some sort of excited uproar.

"I remember him! I remembered him, and I didn't even need this machine...oh. Sorry about your machine. But I remembered!" He was hopping over to the garage door already.

"But wait, where are you going? Who is it?" Tails made his way to block him, but Manic didn't even seem to see him anymore.

"I'm off to see him! He's probably half-gone by now!" He shoved Tails away from the door frame and made off outside like it wasn't anything.

Tails was speechless at his sudden rudeness, but followed him outside anyway.

"Hey now, remember me? I was trying to help you find out who your brother was?" He called after him.

Manic turned back to shout at him before running off, but he probably would have stayed to laugh had he seen Tails' reaction to it. "I remember now! His name is Sonic! Thanks for your help, but I gotta catch up!"

Tails stood there, flabbergasted, trying to figure out if Manic was even serious. But it didn't really make any sense for him to lie about it like that...for no apparent reason.

"Sonic...Sonic has a brother?" He whispered it to himself, but he desperately wished that Sonic was there to answer it. _And he never even told me._


	19. Tikal and Shadow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by my sister. (Yes, I took an offline request lol).

The chao gardens were typically peaceful, settled places. The sort of places that naturally attracted brooders and those that liked to think about their purpose in life. Perhaps that was why, to everyone else's wonder, Shadow liked to stay there, often with a side-purpose to visit "his" little chao, Shadow. (Well, you see, it looked so much like him that he just _had_ to take that naming opportunity).

And it was one of those days, particularly, where he just felt the need to soak in the gardens' energy and be with the chao. The sky was overcast, perhaps threatening to rain, but he didn't mind. It was still the perfect weather to sit down, even in the cold grass, and to watch the tiny creatures...especially his own.

He held out his hand to his small chao and it came to him eagerly. It didn't hesitate either to sit in his lap. Shadow was fine with this but absentmindedly looked elsewhere to make sure no one was around to see. And when there wasn't, he relaxed, sighing deeply.

It wasn't unusual that his mind would roam around until he'd had enough of the conflicting thoughts and ideas. He did have a long life ahead of him, and he had an eternity to decide...but he also had no idea where the turns of the centuries would take him. After his current "lifetime", when G.U.N didn't work out any longer, when Rouge was long gone and Omega long forgotten by the world, what would he do then? After all, he also had to consider the fact that he wasn't sure how the loss of Team Dark would affect him. He knew he had quite a while to dwell on that morbid point, but he was _almost_ certain that it wouldn't make it easier when it actually happened. But he was the Ultimate Lifeform, and that emotion would stain him, but it would eventually fade, too. So he'd have to move on. He might have no interest in G.U.N afterward, by then it might have gone astray anyway. And of course he would still be watching over the planet that she had loved, but it would probably look quite different from the way he did it now. And that was an interesting thought, because throughout his lifetime, the same Shadow he was now would not exist. He would be a completely different Shadow then. Just like his chao, Shadow. They would both be different through their rebirths, for as long as the planet lasted.

Personally, Shadow didn't care much for the ambiguity of that thought. He wasn't limited by many of the moral restrictions that held others back (so long as the methods stuck to his end goal), but as time went on the fluidity of his idea of morals could possibly become more concrete, and that was slightly concerning to him. Not by much, but still. As long as he held his ground on aiding the people of the planet, that part was certain, but the means to that could mean anything, really. And that was the part that he often pondered. Alas, even if he had made this decision many times, he never could truly answer it.

Yet, even through the thoughts running rampant through his mind, it came to his attention that there was another presence in the chao gardens.

He looked around, scanning cautiously for whatever the presence might happen to be. And when he saw a strange echidna- one he had never seen before- in a sort of ancient clothing he had not seen until then, kneeling down towards the pond to watch a small water chao swim around….he wasn't quite sure how to react. How had she even gotten there without his noticing?

Apparently, the two of them had been very deep into their own thoughts.

He looked away, lest she notice he was watching, and he went back to minding his own. The little Shadow in his arms seemed to have other plans. He bounced out from the protection of Shadow's arms and went running, arms outstretched, straight for this strange new presence. Shadow began to open his mouth to express his disapproval, but decided to stay quiet in favor of seeing how she would react.

He wasn't quite past using the chao as a test for hostility, but at the same time he was at the point where he got jealous when the chao willingly left him for someone else.

The echidna turned, still not noticing the hedgehog himself, and she scooped up the chao into her arms as if it were the most usual thing for her. Shadow was silently furious.

"Well hello, little Shadow." She smiled at the chao in a peaceful manner, and stroked its head the same. "What kind of mischief have you been getting into?"

Shadow was shocked that, somehow, she even knew _his_ chao's name. And apparently it knew her all along.

The chao replied to her with a happy mumble of some sort, and the stranger laughed quietly. "So I see. And you've been getting along with the new hatchlings, I think? It seems to be going well, anyway. They're already swimming and everything." She looked back towards the pond and seemed to beam with pride at the sight of it.

It was at this point that Shadow realized trying to be alone with his chao and his thoughts were going to be hopeless. He stood up, somewhat pretended to have come from the direction of the entrance to the chao gardens, and he walked up to her, as subtly as he could.

"Oh hello. I never expected that you would be the one to approach me...but I'm happy nonetheless." She turned towards him right away, almost like she had been expecting him, and the Shadow chao looked up at him eagerly from her arms. Shadow frowned at the chao quickly before looking back up to face this stranger.

"Well, hello. I'm not quite sure what you're talking about, but if you're going to explain please do," he was sure that he wasn't coming across as friendly at all, but he had more important things than that to think of right then.

"I often see you here in the chao gardens, thinking very deeply it seems." She gazed off at the pond as if she, herself, were still thinking deeply, and she only hesitantly looked back to resume her conversation. Perhaps he had interrupted her thoughts as much as he had thought she'd interrupted his. "And so I do not interrupt you from that, as I think that you might not want to be interrupted...but you never seemed to notice when I came by to see the chao."

"Oh. Funny that I wouldn't notice that…" Shadow muttered.

"Yes, well, that's alright. I often come here, anyway. It's sort of my job, I suppose, watching after the chao..."

"Hmm."

"Oh! I've forgotten. My name is Tikal. And, judging by circumstances, I think your name is Shadow."

"You aren't wrong. However, I'm...in the middle of something right now. Can I please have my chao back?"

"Surely. I understand. You seem to take very good care of him, Shadow. It is a high honor to be able to take care of a chao, and you seem to excel at it," she handed him the chao with slight caution and watched as he took it and left back to his spot, without any acknowledgement of her statements.

Shadow, meanwhile, was not very glad to learn that all this time, he had not had isolation in the chao gardens. He supposed it wasn't the best spot for trying to be by himself, as the chao gardens did get many visitors. But now he actually had to find a new spot to go to. Perhaps his house was the best option...but he had to get out of it sometime anyway. Maybe he could just stand outside his house instead?

Or maybe it just didn't matter. It's not like she could know what he was thinking of anyway.

He absentmindedly heard her talking to the chao, and realized the frustrating similarity between her voice and another's. He sighed, gave in, and watched her cautiously step into the pond in pursuit of the water chao.

So much for thinking.

"You all swim so well, don't you?" The chao, circling around her in the waters, chaoed at her in agreement. "It seems as if you were made for it."

Shadow gradually made his way over to where she was again, with his chao still in hand, and he set it down into the waters as well. "Well I guess there's no point in that," he muttered aloud.

"Why is that?"

"My chao needs a break."

"Ah."

They both watched, in a strangely serene silence, as the small creatures swam in circles around each other, while the overcast sky began to spill with the beginnings of a spring rain.

"It's a calm place here," Shadow murmured, somewhat to himself.

"It is. I am very glad to be able to watch over it….whatever point in time it may be." No matter what she said, her eyes held a distant look to them.

Shadow didn't respond to this, for uncertainty of what to say, but he had a feeling a response was not required.

"The chao have such a strong influence on all of life, really, but it's sad that very few take time to notice them," she said.

"That's true, but very few people actually notice things worth noticing, anyway. If you haven't seen, people will waste their lives on very stupid things."

He had a harsher way of speaking things then she probably anticipated, but she didn't seem taken aback by it.

"Yes. And I'm sure that their small choices indicate the paths of the rest of their lives, but they do not believe in the power of those subtle choices. As in the chao gardens, how the chao's future is built by the subtle things in their early lives; what people they spend time with, what animals they are around, what chaos drives they have. But the chao's very future, for years and years down the line, are made up of those very things."

The hedgehog nodded. Though, at least, he had known that for as long as his thoughts on the chao garden existed.

"Unfortunately, most people don't have as long as the chao to live," she added, albeit quietly.

Shadow wanted to mention the bleaker fact that, hey, he had all of eternity. But he kept this to himself in case it caused too much question. So instead he just gave her a slight sound of acknowledgement.

She looked over at him and for once she lost the distance in her eyes. "I have a feeling…" And she looked back out at the clouds and the rain.

"What?"

"I get the feeling that you come here to wonder about your own life path," Tikal said.

"That's rather private, really," he replied, with a little bitterness in his voice. " But I suppose you're mostly correct."

"I thought so. I can't really tell you where to go from here, or what you'll be doing then, unfortunately. That is something you can't even really tell yourself, until it happens. You just...you don't know the paths that will open up in the future to take. I didn't know, many years ago, that I would be here, able to watch the chao gardens, travel through time eras...seal Chaos, any of it. But you must be a very grounded person before you are able to take on any life paths. And maybe those will change you, but you cannot forget that grounded part of yourself, because it, too, will always shape who you are. It all is...just as the chao. They must choose what sort of chao to evolve to, before they can transform into an entirely new creature." She gave a slight pause. "But I get the feeling that you have set a foundation for yourself, already. That's a great thing, though I'm sure it was hard to do."

"I'm well aware. I'm not sure how it is you seem to know about me...But trust me, I understand what I'm doing," Shadow replied. He had known somewhere that it was true; that he could not know the future of his life, that he could only control his own self, that it was impossible to try and guess from the present's circumstances. But for some reason he thought too often of it anyway. He just wouldn't let her know that, perhaps, he hadn't really been that 'well aware' at times. "But thank you."

"I'm sorry if I over-explain too much. I guess it's just been so long since I have spoken to someone- especially someone on the subject of life and purpose. I suppose trying to give direction has always been my own purpose, and perhaps I don't know where to stop sometimes," she laughed to herself.

"It's alright." He wanted to add something, but there was nothing that came to mind quick enough.

"Well, thank you" She stepped up out of the water and motioned a wave to the chao left swimming. "I suppose I'll be heading off now." She went up the slight incline and motioned a wave to Shadow as well. "I hope to see you again! Hopefully next time we will both have clearer minds." And like that, with a slight smile she vanished. Quite literally vanished.

Shadow stood in shock for a few quick moments before deciding that, yes, he'd seen stranger things.

Tikal reflected for a while afterward, wondering why it had happened to be that particular day that the black and red hedgehog first noticed her. Knowing that somehow, it must have played into the grander scheme of things.


	20. Vector and Storm

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This character interaction was requested by TheHunterPersian over on fanfiction(dot.net).

It started rather simply.

It was a large gathering, so of course things were going to get a bit wild, maybe a bit heated.

Especially considering the fact that there were several very hot-headed and brash people in the same yard together.

So from the start, something a bit reckless was bound to happen.

And it finally happened.

In the midst of the generally indistinguishable chatter in the yard, there suddenly arose two voices in particular that began to stand out among the rest.

Gradually, as the other voices subsided to better hear the two, the words being said became loud and clear.

"If you don't stop talking that way about my boss, I'm gonna- I'm gonna- I'm gonna have to fight you!"

"Well,if your boss hadn't approached me and made fun of my business, maybe I wouldn't have started!"

"If you hadn't uh- bumped into him in such a mean way-"

"Ugh, shut up. I didn't even do that on purpose." The crocodile crossed his arms and refused to think otherwise.

"Uh, yes you did!" The albatross crossed his arms and refused to think otherwise.

The others gathered around were, in an uncivil sort of way, waiting in slight anticipation of whatever was going to follow this dispute.

"I mean, I wasn't going to mention anything until you just knocked into me, and it was clear that you could see me," Jet added. He wasn't going to bother to get into much of a fight, but he wouldn't mind if Storm was going to do the heavy-lifting for him. He appreciated those things the most about Storm.

" _Actually,_ I couldn't. It's just a common mistake. Ya must be pretty stuck up if you think I've got nothin' better to do than bump into you. I spilled my drink because of it, too."

"I don't see how someone who's literal job is to be alert and pay attention could hit into a rather tall green hawk and it not be on purpose," Jet retorted.

'Well it was and if ya don't believe me, that's your problem."

"Hey! If you don't apologize to the boss, I'm going to have to make ya!" Storm said, with an eagerness in his voice that showed he would just as easily follow through.

Wave, groaning overdramatically at the situation, finally got Jet's attention. "All this, over being bumped into?"

For once in his life, Espio, on the opposite side of the crowd, nodded at her in appreciation.

"Well, I would stop him, but I'm bored and it's something to do, ok?" Jet replied.

Wave had no words for him, but she did leave the area, so her thoughts were clear.

"You aren't going to make me apologize for anything, jerk," Vector huffed in Storm's direction.

"Yeah?" And in one fell swoop, Storm had punched the crocodile in the gut.

Vector landed, back-first, onto the grass and for an anxious moment he seemed dazed in the shock.

"Ya really just did that." He finally commented.

"I-I did." His very mind, it seemed, began to sweat. He had just gotten himself into an actual full-fledged fight, to be sure. And while he was sure he was strong enough for it, (and he considered the cause of protecting Jet's dignity a very high honor), he realized how nervous he was to actually commit to it.

With slight difficulty from the stupor, Vector stood up and glanced Storm in the eyes. In fact, he glanced at him with such sure ferocity that Storm backed up slightly, before realizing that, no, he had to do this. He had gotten this far, and for the honor of the Babylon Rogues, he was going to finish it.

He looked back at Vector with the same sort of power.

Espio, seeing what horror was about to ensue, rushed forward to Vector. "Wait, wait, I know it's hard to stop now, but you can. Maybe you can talk it out."

"I doubt that now," Vector said with only a slight glance Espio's way. He looked back up to Storm and asked," If I told you I didn't do it purposely and therefore I don't have to apologize, would you let me go?"

"Uhh, no. It's obviously not true," Storm said. There was a lot going through his mind at the moment, and trying to process it all at once left his (usually faulty) logic questionable.

"Ok then," Vector growled. Espio stepped aside again, absolutely refusing to get involved at that point. Sure, they both had a strong sense of dignity in their work, but did Vector have to show himself the most powerful when he could just show himself the most reasonable?

Both of their trademarks would look more foolish by following through in a fight anyway…

And Vector, ignorant to Espio's thoughts, made the first move.

He punched back at Storm, going straight for the beak. He didn't miss, either.

Even though the large bird dodged, his reflex reaction was delayed just enough to cause him injury.

The problem was, it didn't phase Storm for a minute. He immediately responded, punching back blindly, managing to land a fist in Vector's chest regardless.

The rest of the fight was a complicated, mostly blind scuffle with power. At one moment, the entire crowd of mobians in the yard watched in a horrified confusion of what to do. They decided, as quickly as a crowd can make decisions, that it would probably be safest to watch from the safety of the deck. Amy, the hostess of this party, led this movement in dismay. Perhaps the Babylon Rogues had been a risky group to invite to a peaceful party…

It happened, at some point in the fight, that Vector and Storm realized that they had fought their way all the way to the fence of the yard, and at this point they were tired enough to contemplate moving for the sake of less property damage.

They gave each other the first glance in a while that showed an emotion other than rampage.

"Um...should we not?..." Storm asked.

"Yeah, bank account's not big enough for that…" Vector said.

They walked, beaten up pretty badly, though neither would admit it.

The party-goers on the deck looked on with hope at this moment. It didn't last long.

As soon as they'd gotten back to the spot in the middle of the yard, they headed at it again.

Amy sipped at her fruit punch and looked away.

As the arms began flying, the fists throwing, the chests heaving, it was then; for certain, that Vector began to see that this fight was stupid.

It was then, for certain, that Storm saw that this fight was going nowhere, no matter how he tried.

It was just that neither of them wanted to admit defeat and stop.

"You know, for someone with such a big snout, ya don't seem to use it too well," Storm panted, still engaging in the brawl despite his mind's wandering.

"And what d'ya mean by that?" Vector hissed.

"Ya coulda just apologized, and then I wouldn't have had ta do this!" Throwing yet another hit.

"For something I didn't intentionally do? Ya must think I'm pretty stupid." And even though he missed, it didn't phase him.

"Uggghhh just admit it! The boss said you did." Blocking a punch with his arms and preparing his own attack all at once.

"You've got to learn to be a bit more independent, don't cha?" And, out of nowhere, he stepped back.

Storm stumbled forward and barely caught himself from faceplanting. "What- what was that for?"

"We've gotta stop. I think I've proven enough, and ya aren't going to get me to 'apologize' by fighting like _that_ anyway," Vector said. He tried to ignore the ache in his muscles and pretended that wasn't the true reason.

"You really think you can just get away with it like that?" Storm roared. He was aching pretty bad too, but the fact that the other still had the strength to talk back at him and his team was enough to keep him going. Slightly more than enough.

"No. But I'm done fighting you. It's over." Vector walked off, obviously painfully, but he held his head up high because at least he had made himself look slightly tough in the way that he handled the end.

Storm followed him regardless. "Hey! Wait! You can't just do that!"

"Already did." He attempted to walk up the deck steps, desperately wishing for some water.

Storm had already pulled him back by the wrist before he could get there.

Vector turned around to him, and with a sigh and a decided look, he shook his head. "Look, what's your name again? Strom?"

"Storm," the albatross corrected, momentarily distracted from his vengeance goal.

"Right. And your team...the Baby-Long Rags?"

" _Babylon Rogues_."

"Right. And what do you guys do again?"

"Extreme Boarding, of course. We're the best around, idiot. And also, Jet's the Legendary Wind Master. So you're bound to have heard of him. And we're rogues, of course, treasure hunters, sorta-"

"Interesting. Well, just wanted to check. You all do give off the vibe of extreme boarders. Pretty sure I went up against you all a little bit before. Interesting times. Nice team." With that, he walked off again.

Storm watched him walk away, wondering to himself about the randomness of the comment.

So much so that he forgot what his previous thoughts had been, and walked up the stairs back to his team, calm as ever.

"Nice job out there, Storm," Jet said, with a smirk that usually meant he was amused.

That was always a good thing, according to Storm's mind, and so he smiled back and nodded. "Oh yeah, I did do pretty well, didn't I?"

"Of course."

Wave rolled her eyes at the two of them, and Storm tried to reason out a reason why, but nothing really came to mind.

And so he left it at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is where I took a break from this story to work on another. Like I said, I will return to this and be taking prompts once again someday.

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic was taking prompts from readers on my fanfiction (dot.net) account, but as I am currently taking a break from this story, I no longer take any as of now. When I return to this I will accept prompts from users on here as well.


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